Osier

I did a small "Wonderful Willows" walk at Leybourne this morning. There are various cultivars of Salix viminalis ‘Black Hollander’, ‘Black Osier’, ‘Brown Merrin’, ‘English Rod’, ‘Green Gotz’, ‘Reader’s Red’, ‘Whipcord’ are known. However generally the twigs are yellowish-green, often on top of a grey green branch. Quite a few of the apparent Osiers at Leybourne like this, but at least one has reddish twigs on a brown branch (path by lake to North of West Scrub.

Cliffe Pools

About 30 Redshank, half a dozen Ringed Plover, two or three Black-Tailed Godwits starting to show brick-red chests, a dozen Golden Plover developing summer plumage, being beaten up by some of the dozen or so Lapwing, one female Goldeneye, three or so Shelduck, a few Mallard, a few Shoveller, 50 or more Coot, half a dozen Teal, several hundred Black-headed Gulls, three or more Mediterranean Gulls, two plus Common Gulls, Larus canus, possibly a few Herring Gulls, a couple of Cormorants.

New Zealand trip - Peel Forest Park

This looks like the Button Fern, Tarawera in Maori, Pellaea rotundifolia, close to the ground in the Forest Park, along the walk to the Acland Falls. This doesn't sound much like the rocky bush or open habitat referred to in Julian Fitter's book.

The calm before the storm at Leybourne

Not a bad afternoon before the rain started in. The water was rough on the lake, with coots, black-headed gulls and a few cormorants, scattered across the water. No longer any sign of surface ice.

There were plenty of gulls around and then I saw a Sparrowhawk circling over Snodland flapping quickly, then soaring, in quite tight circles, the first I have seen since the one at Milton Creek.

I walked between the Round Pond and the Key Conservation Area, but there was little there, apart from overflying gulls and noisy magpies. On one of the bramble piles there was a (just) possible redstart - but it was probably really a robin! Several blackbirds in among the brambles and long grass.

On the way out at the junction for Nevil Park there were a few Blue Tits, Great Tits, and on the way back there was a singing Songthrush, and then a Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Dendrocopos major, arrived in the large Willow, and searched some of the upper branches. I went along as far as the entrance to the treatment site, and there were a couple of birds I couldn't identify on the wires at the plant. I wondered about Meadow Pipits. There were plenty of hazel catkins on bushes by this drive and along the stream by the Key Conservation Area, together with a few young ashes with some Chalara damage.

I moved further on and there was a small crows of Black-headed Gulls, Chroicocephalus ridibundus, all ducking their heads and apparently preening on the NW end of Larkfield Lake. There were up to a dozen Tufted Duck, Aythya fuligula, on the other side of the lake.

A cormorant went over the aquatic centre at the Ocean as we returned. Going back to the Wardens Office, there was at least one singing Blue Tit in the Bluebell Wood, and several singing Great Tits in the hedges by the offices, quite close together.  

Icy Leybourne

Part of the far side of the Ocean was iced over this morning, and a group of Gulls were resting there. They looked fairly settled, until I got round there with the tripod, when I quickly spooked them all - TWICE. Its the tripod, honest, I need not to hold it like a gun.

This is one of the Herring Gulls, Larus argentatus, this one in the group on the ice. It looks like a third year bird, with limited development of the white windows in this plumage. The beak looked quite adult oddly enough, and the head was quite white.There is a lot of dark further in on the wing, just visible on the underside here.

There were several Common Gulls, Larus canus, around, both that I had good views of having relatively whitish heads. Nothing else they could be, but its interesting to note the variation. Earlier in the year I have tended to see much darker streaked heads, but the moult to summer plumages is a long way off, so it must simply be individual variation.

Good numbers of Goldfinches

Bough Beech

Lots of Greylags, Shoveller, Mallard, Teal, Coot, Moorhen, Cormorant and some Mandarin Duck on the main lake. Possibly some Wigeon as well.

The smaller lake was largely iced over, with only a couple of Carrion Crows.

Milton Creek

A really nice walk out at Sittingbourne today in warm (for December) breezy weather with weak sun. Targets were the long-staying Long-tailed Duck, Clangula hyemalis. The drake is at the back with its longer tail, and the next one is perhaps a youngster, behind two lighter coloured females. I must say that they are remarkably pretty birds:

There are supposedly 11,000 or so wintering in the UK every year, but the distribution is much more Northern in distribution, generally north from Northumberland with high numbers off the East of Scotland. Most birds probably come from the Iceland/Greenland breeding population, but there may also be some from the Russian/North West European population. There are some records in Kent, but not a huge number. According to the RSPB they eat mainly mussels, cockles, clams, crabs and small fish.

The species is of European Conservation Concern, and appears subject to risk from oil spill in the relatively small Finnish/Scandinavian population. The UK wintering population, at the southwestern limit of its range, is therefore subject to protection and at least three Scottish estuarine shores are SPAs in part consequence.

On the tundra breeding grounds the males are highly territorial, and are reported to return to their territories year after year. Nests, with a down covering on a shallow depression in the ground, may be placed among Arctic Tern nests, affording some protection against predators. Nesting takes place from late June, usually close to a pond. The 5 - 9 eggs are brooded for 4 weeks or so, the males leaving early in the process to moult on the coast.

There were plenty of other birds to be seen, particularly at the height of the tide. There were quite a few wigeon about, although they were not particularly vocal today.

There were quite a few Redshank around.

I got a couple of shots of a Black-Headed Gull flying conveniently past, in classic winter plumage. The wing pattern is just so wonderful, both under and over.