Christine's walking & birds blog

A late-afternoon visit brought at least five bullfinches feeding in birch and rowan trees. Usually in the Beeches, I just hear them calling from dense stands of holly - so it was a treat to see them in the open.

Some Kentish birding

I've spent a lovely weekend with my sister in Guston, near Dover.

Saturday started wet and misty, but we set off to see the sights. My brother-in-law took us first to Samphire Hoe - of which more later.

We followed winding country lanes, stopping at a pub for a very acceptable lunch. Then we drove on, and I had just glimpsed a signpost to Harty Ferry and begun to wonder why that sounded familiar, when suddenly there were wetlands and waders right next to the road - we were at Oare Marshes!

It wasn't a day to invite a walk and we just strolled along to the water's edge to look across at the Isle of Sheppey; while a little stint was a nice surprise among the dunlins and ringed plovers.

The following day we went to Pegwell Bay - another famous birding place seen at last. The tide was out so the waders were a bit distant; however, we had good views of several redshanks and there was a sizeable flock of golden plover high up the beach. We also consumed another enjoyable pub lunch. Why don't we have pubs this good at home?

On our walk across Samphire Hoe the day before, we'd seen a wheatear; so when I left to drive home on Monday morning I dropped in again.

Bury Down

This was the scene when we pulled into the Ridgeway car park this morning; a ploughing match was underway at Folly Farm, West Ilsley. It was wonderful to see how those old tractors have been kept and cherished over the years.

While we were getting ready for our walk, a skylark was in full song above. But it would be a quiet day bird-wise, with three or four stonechats the best on the ground and thirty-odd golden plover over Bury Down the best on the wing. And when we got back to the car park, the old tractors had been loaded onto various trailers and were on their way home.

Dorney Wetlands

I now know what was moving through the reeds disturbing the Cetti's warbler a couple of weeks ago as I heard exactly the same sound this evening in the reeds near the small footbridge. A mink emerged and swam over to the plank, hauling out onto it for a few seconds.

It made two trips out and back to the bridge. The second time it came up the bank through the grass, and I just managed a quick photo before it realised I was there and disappeared again.

Jubilee River Gannet!

It's Greger's Spanish night, so I set off for a nice unhurried wander round Dorney Wetlands. A flock of about twenty swallows was a cheering sight, while two snipe dashing over lent a wild feel to the place.

Walking back, I was treated to several bursts of song from the Cetti's warbler and a brief glimpse as the bird flitted between bushes in the reed-bed. Cormorants were flying upstream in twos and threes.

I was about to call it a day when a sleek torpedo shape went cruising by along the river - clearly no cormorant. The plumage was dark above and pale below, and my mind raced...."A diver? No.....it's a gannet! Blimey, it's a gannet!"

I lost the bird behind the trees on the bank, so it was fortunate that it veered away from the river and gained a little height. The gannet profile against the sky was unmistakable. I just had time to click off two hopeless, distant shots (I could see from the red frame in the viewfinder that the camera hadn't been able to focus) as it passed into Bucks, flying incongruously over the cottage on Lake End Road and vanishing into the gloom.

I ran all the way back to the car park, across the road and as far as the footbridge on the other side - but I wasn't to see it again.

There had been no time to even think of phoning it in; and as I walked back to the car I decided against doing so now as it was too dark for anyone to follow it up.

We drove down to Farlington and arrived just in time for lunch! It was a pleasant afternoon with a slight breeze - a welcome change from the windy weather of yesterday.

Strings of Brent geese flew across Langstone Harbour, and Greger spotted a whimbrel among the many curlews. The tide was going out, so we had only distant views of three Sandwich terns.

By chance, I clicked the shutter just as this one emerged from a dive.

While nothing special was seen, it was an enjoyable walk along the sea-wall with a stirring soundtrack of the calls of curlews, oystercatchers, and ringed plovers.