THIS BLOG IS CLOSING DOWN....

....and a new website is up!!!!!

See here
www.joshsbirding.blogspot.com

I have enjoyed my time on blogspot but I have decided on a site change. This sounds like im quiting a job!
Anyway, thanks to those that read the blog, I have learnt alot.
Check out the new site, exciting material on from this evening!

Dunge

Decided on Dunge to try for the Roseate tern that has been hanging around down there the last few days, and after a short while it was located at the patch and sitting on the beach with other terns. A nice tick for me. Also 5 Black tern, c15 Mediterranean gull, 4 Gannet, 1 S Little gull, and lots of Common and a few Sandwich tern. At the DBO, many Nottingham Catchfly plants were noted. We moved onto Wickhambreaux via a scan of Grove from the car which produced just 2 Marsh harriers and a couple of Common tern. At Wickhambreaux, no Spotted flycatchers were located at the church.

Fackenden Down

Went down to this reserve near Eynsford today to look for orchids an butterflies. I've never been there before, but after reading Greenie's blog, I thought I should!
On the country lane by the reserve a dead Slow worm was an unfortunate sight, shame as it would have been a first for me, if it was alive! A walk produced many Common Blue's, a few Dingy Skippers, Painted lady, Small Heath, Small White, Large White and the highlight for me were 2 Green Hairstreak (4th). Fragrant Orchids (3rd) were widespread on some parts of the reserve with a few Common Spotted Orchid (2nd) also on site. A few Burnet Companion and a Speckled Yellow moths were also noted. On the bird front, Whiethroat, Yellowhammer, Blackcap and Cuckoo were singing.
We drove towards Eynsford and stopped off by the main road where a patch of grass held 2 Man Orchids(1st), truly superb!

More Moths

I woke up at 4:30 this morning just to reap the rewards of a moth trap with 3 moths in it.
Brimstone moth, flew off before I could photograph it and the other two were an Angle Shades (middle) and a Small square-spot (bottom). As well as a Crambus lathoniellus (top), a micro moth that I find really hard to get too excited about.

Rustic Shoulder-knot

Found this in the office today during large amounts of non revision. A rather colourless Rustic Shoulder-knot specimen. The caterpillars feed on various grasses such as Cock's-foot Dactylis glomerata that grow in the fields next to the house.

Red Kite

A few hours spent out birding today, started at Oare where c130 Black-tailed godwit were a nice site, a Lesser whitethroat sang in scrub and a Cuckoo called. A couple of male Pochard, 3 Little egret, 1 male Marsh harrier, 6 Avocet, Reed bunting and 3 Redshank were also of note. We went up to Dargate where a Red Kite flew over heading NW at 1500.

Moths

A few pics of recent moths I've either trapped or seen during the day.
1. Speckled Yellow (Top)
2. Rustic Shoulder-knot
3. Pale Tussock
4. Red Twin Spot Carpet
5. Bee Moth

New Forest

A day out in the New forest yesterday turned into half a day, we left at 10:15 in the morning and traffic was crap on the way down so we didn't get down until 1pm or something. No HB's but a Goshawk but on a distant and boring display, as it flew along tree tops. Plus 7+ Buzzards, Hobby, Sparrowhawk, Crossbill and a female Redstart at this site.
We checked out another site where 2 or 3 Wood warbler sang and showed flitting through the tree tops. Also a male Redstart put on a superb show as well as a singing Tree pipit.
We drove through various parts of the forest where more Tree pipits, Redstarts and a Wood warbler showed. Now that's the birding I like, just driving along, 'Oh, theres a Redstart, and another, ooh Tree pipit singing, Oh nice, Wood warbler' That's what it was like. A huge invasion of Painted ladies was evident, also Small heaths and a few Latticed heath day flying moths.
British Life List- 218
Year list- 192
Today (Sunday) was spent chilling out at home where a movement of Painted ladies consisted of 1 or 2 per minute flying through the garden in Pembury, also Speckled yellow and Silver Y moths noted feeding in the garden. I received a text from Dan Pointon and a voicemail from Joe Ray this afternoon informing me of 5 Bee eaters at Bough beech. 'Fuck' I thought, that is a great bird for the res, but another text informed me that they had flown off. That's just birding....unfortunately, so cruel.

Tree Pipit

A trip down to Knowle Park didn't reveal the hoped for Redstarts, but 2 singing Tree pipits were a Kent and year tick for me, 207 and 189 respectively. Also 2 singing Garden warbler were a year tick. 2 Yellowhammer sang and barrel loads of Willow warbler.
On the butterfly front, 6 Small heath and 2 Painted ladies were noted as well as a Mother Shipton moth.

BB

Went down to the res yeserday evening, overall it was very quiet, but my first visit for a while. Common terns back with 15+, no sign of the Black tern. Also 23 Shelduck, 1 Shoveler, Cuckoo, Reed warbler, Chiffchaffs and very little else. Looking on the board, a Red kite had gone through earlier in the day. On Study leave at the moment with my next exam being 1st June and last exam being on the 19th, it's gona be a long summer!

Pratting around

After a nervous wait during the week to get down to the Stodmarsh and Grove ferry, I finally got down there today. The Black-winged pratincole was originally found late last week but IDed as a Pratincole Sp. It was re-found on the Sunday and Ided as a Black-wing. I was stuck at home on Sunday revising and a couple of exams during the week prevented any after school twitch.
We joined the throngs walking to Marsh hide and I eventually got onto the bird whilst being suffocated by many people in a cramped hide. The showed well through the scope on the deck for about 10 minutes when it flew up and I had brief views of it in flight. We left the hide to search for it but alas there was no sign. A check of the pager revealed that the bird had re-located to the Ramp at Grove Ferry, we started walking, but when we reached near Harrison Drove Hide the bird flew past and showed incredibly well in flight, showing the black under-wing and no white on the trailing edge of the wing. We were all pleased.
We had a scan from the ramp which revealed a Wood sandpiper, 4 Avocet, 3 Black-wit and not alot else except a few Hobby and loads of Reed and Sedge warblers. On the way out a few Common lizards were a nice site. Whilst we were at Grove we missed a Red-footed falcon and Josh Jones.
We left and went to Collards lake, where me met Chris Gibbard and Allan Wells. 6+ Hobby hawked low over the water and 15+ Common tern.
Dungeness came on the pager with Red-rumped swallow, we left with the hope the swallow would stick at Dunge, but we arrived at the visitor centre and there was no sign on the RRSwallow. 1 Common sandpiper, Common tern, c200 Swallow and an LRP were noted along with a Cream-spot Tiger moth that Chris found.
We opted to end the day on a sea-watch, no Poms but an adult Black tern at the patch was a stunning bird also; 9 Common scoter past, 2 dark phase Arctic skua on the deck and then east and loads of Common terns.
Superb day with the year list now on 187.

Saturday 9th

First stop of the day was Oare, where a Greenshank showed well plus 6 Avocet, 6 Common tern, 1 Cuckoo, 6 Little egret, c50 Swift, 1 Sand martin, Sedge warblers, Whitethroats, 2 Oystercatcher, Wigeon, Shoveler, Redshank and Black-tailed godwit.
We decided to make our way to Grove Ferry and on the way stopped off at Boughton Street where we scanned some countryside. I picked up a Kite over some woods and realise that it was a Black Kite. It showed the less forked tail than Red Kite, Light brown panels on broad wings and no white on the under wing. We had the bird all to ourselves for 20 minutes from 12:05-12:20 before it drifted off south west. During its 'stay' it was mobbed by Hobby and Buzzard allowing great comparison views. Cracking bird, and not an easy one to get in Britain.
Grove Ferry was fairly productive with a good count of 5 Garganey including 4 drakes, also 1 Greenshank, 3 Black-tailed godwit (including 1 sum plum bird), 1 LRP, Marsh harrier, Cuckoo, Sedge and Reed warbler, Whitethroat, Hobby, Bearded tit, couple of Nightingale, c100 Swift, Cetti's warbler, House martin, Willow warbler, 2 Common tern, Reed bunting and 1 Ringed plover. No sign of the hoped for Grasshopper warbler.
We decided to get down to Dunge for a sea watch where we had 1 pale phase Arctic skua east, 1+ Little tern at the patch, few Gannet and plenty of Common and Sandwich terns.
We drove back across Walland where the Little owl performed incredibly outside a house near Lydd.
British List 215
Year list 184
Kent List 205

Black Kite

Found a Black Kite today whilst scanning countryside at Boughton Street, Canterbury. The bird flew over and showed for 15 mins in flight, from 12:05-12:20. Only managed this one digiscoped shot of the bird. It showed the distinctively shallowly forked tail and distinctive wing shape as shown in the above photo. A truly un-forgettable day, visited a few other spots today too, full report to follow when I have re-fueled with food.

Crested Lark

News broke of a Crested Lark being present at Dungeness on the 29th (I think?) so naturally as a keen Kent birder, I wanted to see it. It was soon arranged to go for it on Saturday (yesterday) but I knew we weren't going to get down at dawn. Graham picked me up at 10 and we set off down the M20. When we arrived in the area were decided to go across Walland marsh in the hope of finding a Montagu's harrier or similar...As expected nothing in the way of 'good' birds, but a pair of adult Mediterranean gulls in a ploughed field was a nice sight. Nothing else was noted but Whitethroat's were singing in good numbers.
We arrived on site, near South View Cottage, a place that has been residence for many a good birds including last years Slate-coloured junco (or Dark-eyed if you prefer) A group of around 100 birders were present. As soon as I got out the car the Crested Lark flew over showing the characteristic rusty/bronze under wing and no white on the outer tail feathers. I we down to ground and the birders literally ran and surrounded the poor bird. A wait of about 45 minutes and the bird was sighted on the other side of the road, we headed over and the bird showed on deck very briefly before being flushed. All in all about 5 fleeting views of the bird were obtained and we left to do some sea-watching.
A scan of the gulls along the shore revealed a 1st winter Caspian gull showing very well, but I didn't think to take pics (why?!!) A dark phase Arctic skua flew east along with c60 Common scoter past, c15 Kittiwake, 1 Great-northern Diver east, 1+ Arctic tern, loads of Common tern, several Sandwich tern and a lone Whimbrel flew high east over the hide.
Marcus Lawson and Mike Buckland joined us briefly and told us that they had had a pair of Raven over at Dengemarsh in one of the fields. We left and headed over there where we managed to locate one of the Raven, a Kent tick for me.
Today (Sunday) I checked out Pembury Waterworks where a Common sandpiper pottered along the edge of the water, a year tick for me. Whilst at my dads house I had a Red kite fly north at 15:20 this afternoon.
Year list is 181
Kent list is 204
British list is 214

Dungeness, Saturday 25th April

I joined Graham and his mate Phil on a trip down to Dunge on Saturday and had a good time.
We drove across Walland marsh which revealed several Yellow wagtail and a Med gull over. Also 2 Tree sparrow were in a hedge calling.
We stopped off at the ARC Pit where 3 Swift over head were the best plus 1 LRP, 2 Ringed plover, 1 White wagtail, 1 Wheatear, 7 Yellow wagtail and 2 Oystercatcher.
We headed for the sea-watching hide where 2 Bonxie flew east, also loads of Common and a few Sandwich terns at the patch plus 2 RT Divers east and a lone Brent Goose also east. During the sea-watch we got onto a falcon flying around way out at sea, it appeared to be a Hobby, but we couldn't be sure, and as if that wasn't odd enough, a male Marsh harrier flew out to sea also, heading purposefully south.
An hours walk around the trapping area at the obs revealed c30 Whitethroat, they were singing everywhere, but nothing else of note although Phil had Firecrest and Lesser 'throat (We all went separate ways around the trapping area.)
To the RSPB Reserve where birding was done from the car along the entrance track, we still managed 3 Hobby, singing Sedge warblers, 2 Whimbrel (Kent tick 201) and a few Whitethroat.
We drove to Galloways Road, but the MoD had their Red flags flying so we couldn't drive down to the shore. We still managed a singing Cuckoo which also showed very well.
We then went to Dengemarsh, viewed from the road by the pylons where 2 Cuckoo flew over and 3 stunning drake Garganey performed fairly well on the flood. Also here were Whitethroat, Redshank, Ringed plover and Sedge warbler.
Year list: 176

Wheatear

On my Knockholt patch today, only 4th record. Did Dunge yesterday, will do a report on it tomorrow.

Cornwall, 16th-18th April

We were staying with my uncle in St Germans, near Plymouth. Didn't get around to vast amounts of birding, and with very little transport to my disposal, I couldn't get about too much.
16th April
St Germans
4 Chiffchaff, 5 Blackcap, 4 Swallow, 20 Shelduck, 2 Linnet, singing Meadow pipit, 1 Curlew, 2 Buzzard.
Rame head
10 Yellowhammer, 10 Gannet, 4 Shag, 2 Kestrel, 1 Whitethroat, 2 Raven, 12 Swallow (2 in off), 1 Buzzard, 2 Peregrine, male Cirl bunting ( most likely a released bird, therefore untickable), 6 Linnet, 2 Chiffchaff, c30 Manx shearwater east at 14:57 then another c10 at 15:30 (lifer), 1 Meadow pipit east, 7 Common scoter east.
17th April
St Germans
1 Curlew, 20 Shelduck, 1 Grey heron, 1 Buzzard, 5 Swallow, 1 Little egret, 2 G S Woodpecler, 2 Canada goose, 1 Cormorant, singing Meadow pipit, female Peregrine on viaduct, 1 Whimbrel, Blackcap, 2 Siskin over and 1 Raven over.
Rame head
6 Yellowhammer, 6 Chaffinch, 2 Greenfinch, 1 Kestrel, Skylark, 10 Gannet, 2 Shag, 4 Common scoter, 3 Manx shearwater east, 2 Whitethroat, 2 Chiffchaff, 1 Raven, 2 Buzzard, 2 Linnet, 1 Sand martin and 2 House martin in off the sea, 5 Swallow.

That concludes the birding. Fairly poor bar the lifer (212)

Work Experience

Work experience is now over. On Wednesday we went to Strawberry wood, near Benenden and did some management work; clearing footpaths and installing gates for better access for the general public. There were 3 Buzzards there and numerous butterflies plus a top curry for lunch. Not much else exciting happened during the rest of the week apart from hearing about a Ponie on Cinderhill heath that got slashed with a knife deliberately over the easter break, nice...but I now know what it's like working in countryside management and conservation. I think its where I want to work eventually. 'The Exams' start in a couple of weeks.
Now, I'm going to settle down for the evening with a nice curry.

Orchid ID

I will get round to doing a quick report on Cornwall, very soon....

On work experience this week. I'm working with Kent High Weald Project, a countryside management group based at Bedgebury. Had a nice day there today and even managed a much needed year tick, Willow warbler, with several singing around the site plus a Buzzard, Blackcaps and a few Siskin.

This afternoon I headed up to Cinderhill where it was very quiet. Along the stream at the bottom of the heath I came across c60 Orchids. I'm pretty confident they're not Common spotted. See photo's...I found the plant already 'severed'. I did not pick it!

Any ideas on they're identity is much appreciated.