Another early morning visit...
0530 - 0730 Cool, bright but becoming more overcast, NW f2
A visit to all the likely areas for new warblers.....5 Willow Warblers were singing....Chiffchaffs as usual taking their time to surface....Blackcaps around and the Cettis Warbler put in a brief performance....as did the Whitethroat opposite warbler corner....
Song Thrushes were noisy today and, as usual, always great to hear....a Snipe was put up from middle beach.....yesterdays WeBS count produced only a couple of Herons....today there were at least half a dozen....bah!....a Little Egret sailed over middle pit....
Yesterday evening I thought I heard a Cuckoo...amazingly brief....and this morning it was confirmed....Cuckoo....on the north side of the site and possibly up around the Medway area....but hooray....!!
13.41 picnic lunch at Whetsted to the dulcet tones of the first nightingale I've heard here this year! The one in the corner of the big field of oaks by the river. Yay! They're returning :-)
ReplyDeleteVery few in the county at the moment.... Excellent news...😁
DeleteMy first real exploration of the gravel pits this morning so was delighted with a Nightingale singing well and Willow warblers. I have ventured in from the Golden Green side a couple of times before but not from Whetsted itself. This morning I had limited time so did not find open water. What a site though ! Fab.......Graham, any chance of a guided tour ?!
ReplyDeletemartin....let me know when you want a walk round and I'm sure we can meet up and go from there...lots more nightingales to come, lesser whites, more common whites, garden warbs...should be rocking in two weeks time...Graham
Deleteare you on the kent birding facebook page? find me there or look me up on facebook and drop me a message and we can arrange a meet...
DeleteGreat stuff. I bird a lot with Chris Roome who is membership sec of KOS, maybe we could both join you. I will look you up on FACEBOOK
DeleteGraham please can you tell me if you put records on Bird Track so they exist for all to see. I often walk along the Medway via the Postern Park end for Turtle Dove and Nightingales etc and often worry about the whole are being turned into some dull country park and should that ever happen data on rare bird species might help conserve it.
ReplyDeleteI don't use birdtrack at the moment, I'm deciding if I want to..a friend, who sometimes comes to whetsted, Dick Hoare, uses it so logs his records when he is there...from what I can tell lots of records from one area is not a bad thing, so several people using birdtrack would be good as I'm not always there...so if others are that's fine....I do WeBS and generally count warblers....didn't get turtle dove last year (only in spain), I know they must get nightingale at postern pits...I was hoping to ring there but another guy will at some point...
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