The Kingfisher and I.

A busy year for me(work wise) so I really haven't had a chance to keep an eye on Clare Park Lake(East Malling) this year. But a few sunny lunch time visits last week made up for my absence.

5th of December was the 1st visit, and after watching 3 Brown Trout sitting in the fast water in the stream, I made my way to the small concrete bridge, were the stream meets the small lake. A bright Blue flash of colour greeted my surprises eyes, as a Kingfisher flew off towards the other side of the lake. Wow, I wasn't expecting that one. Ive had just 2 brief sightings of a Kingfisher at this lake, and that was last year, so I was eager to capture a record photo.

The Kingfisher was in no real hurry to leave the area, and in the safety of being on the other side of the lake, set about doing what they do best...fishing!

Long range photos, but just to witness this Kingfisher in action(through my bins) was good enough for me.

Yes, that is a goal in the background! on the schools playing field.

Terrible cropped pic, but this was the Kingfishers 2nd catch that I had seen.

2nd lunch time visit was on the 9th of December, and sure enough, the Kingfisher was at it again! The sun was really bright, and I had my other camera with me. I also crept into a closer position, in the hope of capturing better photos. It wasn't long before the kingfisher started to once again "work the lake".
It was wary though, and for the most part, there was always plenty of branches obscuring my view, but I returned back to work as "Happy as Larry".

Still a few obligatory branches/twigs in the line of view, but "you cant win em all".

On the 5th, there were a pair of Gadwall on the lake, but they had moved on by the 9th. A good winter visitor for this small lake too.

Ive only ever seen up to 3 Little Grebes here, but there were 4 on both visits.

Owls at Sheppey, Part 3.

Final part of the Isle of Sheppy's SEO's.
After having a great time the previous weekend, I returned on the 20th November, but hoped I would get a chance to capture closer range photos of the SEO's.
The Brent Geese were still in large numbers, but instead of Curlews sharing the same field, this time it was Golden plover. I didn't have a count up, but 75 to 100 Golden plover were amongst 100's of Brent Geese.
The tide was way out, so no waders were close enough for decent photos, except just 2 Oystercatchers on Shellness Beach.
Its funny how events unfold, because if I hadn't have spotted a Butterfly(probable Red Admiral) then I wouldn't have seen the SEO's. Whilst taking a photo of a Kestrel, the Butterfly flew past me, I asked out loud, "Was that a Red Admiral"? and a voice said back, "I think it could have been a Small Tortoiseshell".

I recognised this voice, to be that of an "Old Timer", whom I had met a couple of occasions on my Church Patch!!! Turns out he lives in one of the beach properties, and is very much a "local man". So whilst we "talked birds" up on the bank(outside his house), this lead to me seeing/photographing some great sights.
Unfortunately, by this time it was 2.30pm, so I was shooting against the low sun, hence the photos were back lit. Regardless, I still had a great time, and if not for that Butterfly, then I would certainly have gone home early, which was my intention at that time.
These photos are still heavily cropped, because of the distance involved, but I did get closer to them this visit.

2 SEO's were having a tussle of sorts, one was on the ground, whilst the other kept swooping down on it.

A couple of shots when one of the owls faced my way.

 I only just captured this flight shot, in frame.

Then a surprise, this was way off in the distance, but it looks like a female Hen Harrier to me.

Those 2 Oystercatchers, from earlier on in the day.

On the way home, I called into Raptor Point(its only the 2nd time Ive been here) and the sun was going down rapid, so the light was very poor.

A Heron, fishing in one of those dykes.

Last shot of the day, and whilst on the viewing mound, this SEO was mobbed by one of the Kestrels, before it too, landed on the farm machinery(the kestrel is on the tyre).

Driving home, over the new bridge, I was treated to a fantastic sunset, I should have stopped to take a pic, but I was cold and hungry!

As well as the Butterfly, I also saw a Dragonfly too, I didn't get any photos of these 2 on the day, but the last butterfly I saw in my garden, was seen on the 15th of November.

I shot this leaning over my garden fence.

Red Admiral.

Isle of Sheppey, Part 2.

After returning from the hide, and eating our late lunch, my son had wanted to collect some shells, so off we went to the beach at Shellness, not really knowing what to expect, but several birders had told us that the tide was in, so we could see some waders.
The sun was still shining(although it was getting low in the sky) the sky was blue, it was still warm enough, and the light was very good for some photos.

I didnt want to scare any of the waders, so i kept very low to the beach, moving slowly towards these beautiful birds. At times, I had to hold the camera high in the air to get some shots.
These are some of the highlights of a cracking hour on the edge of the beach. My basic bridge camera has a 24x optical zoom lens, but I can increase this up to 32x optical zoom, and the photos are all cropped. So I was still some distance from these birds.

The first birds seen were Turnstones.

Then a flock of 12 to 15 Ringed Plovers were in the area.

Im pretty sure that in amongst the Ringed plovers was a possible Sanderling here?

Several Dunlin bathing/preening.

Grey Plovers on the beach breakers, and possibly my favourite shots of the day.

And last but not least, those nervous Oystercatchers, its hard to sneak up on these beauties, because they are wary. You can see by the light in these last 3 pics, that the sun is going down now, and it started to get a bit cold too.

What an absolutely cracking day we had, spent on the Isle of Sheppey. I would recommend this area to anyone, it had the lot. Even on the way home, we spotted a lovely Hare in a field. A top days birding(especially for a novice like me!) Cheers.

Isle of Sheppey, Part 1.

Two recent trips to the Isle of Sheppey this month, proved quite fruitful for myself and my young son. The both of us had never seen SEO's, Great White Egret, or Hen Harrier before, so with reports/sightings being made of these birds in that area, we set off in the hope of seeing some good birds.
Going back to the 13th of November, this was our first ever visit to the area, and what a cracking day it was(weather wise) too.
Highlights of the day are as follows:

Just before the rough track starts/takes you to Shellness beach, on your right, the fields are full of Brent Geese, these were joined by small groups of Curlew. Ive never seen so many Curlew at once, my son counted 108! (with the use of binoculars) because they were way off in the distance.

I do have some photos of up to 7 Curlews in the one pic, but this was the closest one, and even this one was some distance away.

We did walk to the 1st hide, where we saw the Great White Egret(massive distance though!).

On the way back we also saw at least 6 separate sightings of those SEO's, and a very kind birder let us look through his scope at a female Hen Harrier, which was feeding on the ground.

These shots of the SEO's are heavily cropped, because of the vast distance involved.

One of the Little Egrets flew over.

Reed Buntings were in good numbers.

We then made our way to see some waders on the beach, the tide was in, so I did capture some nice pics of Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Turnstone, Grey Plover, Oystercatcher, and a possible Sanderling?

But I will save those photos for Part 2.

About halfway between the beach and the car park(on our return from the beach) we were treated to a great sight indeed, not one, not two, but three SEO's flew over our heads(one after the other) within minutes of each other. I couldnt really get any decent shots of them, poor light, and the fact that it was just unexpected to see 3 in succession like that. Even back at the car, we saw at least 4 more SEO sightings, whilst we were getting ready to make the trip back home.

So all in all, a very good day was had indeed.

Last shot of the day, and the sun was going down, these two Little Egrets put on a display.

Note-

Just to confirm that on the 19/11/11, my son somehow spotted a Male Goosander on the river at Holborough. He wasnt using binoculars either! I just dont know how the lad does it, but he was right, i took a long range(poor) shot, just before the Goosander took off in the Halling direction.

Another 1st for us too, we saw plenty of females last winter, but this is the first male.

Where did those last 4 months go to?!

Well, they say time flys when your "havin fun".
I have to admit to, not doing very much birding of late. Through the summer i devoted most of my spare time to closely observing local reptiles to me(specifically the adders). I was hoping that i might witness one of the female adders giving birth to her young? That was not meant to be(even though I put the hours into it). So I missed the birth, but i went on to find/photograph/record my findings anyway. I found 6 different baby adders on the one day, and noted yet another. There was also a high probability that another baby adder perished soon after birth. So the female adder that i had watched closely over the months between April to August, gave birth to at least 8 babies.
Baby Common lizards and also young Grass snakes were also seen/photographed too.

Now that most(if not all) the local reptiles are into their hibernation, I can now turn back to the birds. Ive visited Oare Marshes, Leybourne Lakes etc. recently, and have put in some time back on my Church patch, so some good bird pics are already "in the bank".

Just remains to post a couple of baby adder photos(of which i have many!)...cheers, and its good to be back.

1st baby was seen on the 16th of August, and this neonate probably perished? It did not look healthy at all, Id like to think it survived, but I doubt it did?

Several more healthier adders were seen over the next couple of months though, and these are some of my favourite photos.

There are 2 babies here, and probably both male and female, the male moves away in the next pic, to reveal a stunning female.

She is a beauty.

And to finish off this blog, I managed to capture 3 babies together in the same photo.

One final word, at no time did i try to handle any of these adders, I only take photos of these snakes in the positions that i find them.