Saturday, June 07, 2008

Saturday 7th June

I was woken up at 3.50am this morning by at least 2 Little Owl calling near my house, a Skylark in full song and a Yellowhammer going at full pelt. I knew I was going to have little time to get out today so I decided to get up and go straight to New Hythe. I was there at 4.05am just as it was getting light.

During an hour and 45minutes I didn't see one other person...not even the dreaded dog walkers! Best sighting was 3 Hobby that were swooping around the round pond/scrape area at 4.15am. They were feeding on the wing and when I first saw them reminded me of the Nightjars I had seen a few days earlier. Amazing to see these silhouettes dashing just as dawn was breaking.

Female Chaffinch with nesting material

I walked through the west and east scrub, over the river, around Abbey Mead lingering by the sunken marsh and then around Brooklands Lake and back along the Millstream. In total I saw/heard 20 Whitethroat, 8 Nightingale, 10 Reed Warbler, 5 Chiffchaff, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Cuckoo, 40 Swift, 4 Reed Bunting, 7 Blackcap, 2 Garden Warbler, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Mistle Thrush, 5 song Thrush, 9 Cettis Warbler, 1 Shelduck, 1 Great Spot and a Black Swan!

All this and I was back home by 5.45!

At 11.30 I was driving past Alders and Tesco Lake, I did my usual scan for Terns and at last added a Common Tern on Tescos sitting on a buoy. My 96th species here for the year.

posted by Steve @ 6:14 am   4 comments

4 Comments:

At 3:46 pm, Blogger Simon said...

Great to hear the Common Tern, welldone. Great photo of the Chaffinch.

 
At 4:37 pm, Blogger Warren Baker said...

Early morning is such a great time to be out and about, its just hard to keep doing it!
I havn't recorded Common Tern this year, I do get them occasionally fly over, still time I guess.

 
At 4:48 pm, Blogger John Young said...

Blimey, I bet your a bit tired now. In my opinion the very best time of day and the hardest to see. The hobbies sound excellent. Jeskyns is new and used to be farmland. The Forestry Commission and Gravesham council are working in partnership to restore woodland and meadowland, linking it to Shorne Woods. There is a car park at TQ 661 698 just south of the new bit of A2 and railway line.

 
At 3:30 pm, Blogger Cheryl said...

Wow I am liking this blog, fellow wildlife watcher.
Am loving those skylarks to, we have a pair nesting nearby.....I love to hear them singing as they tumble to the ground.
Tku for the info on the damselfly, I know where to come now if I want to get more info.
Tks for dropping by my blog.

When I have more time I shall link you to my blog.

 

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