Friday 28 December 2018

Black-throated Diver, Chatham: 26 Dec 2018

Took a few minutes away from the Christmas turkey to enjoy the delights of Chatham...Basin No.2! The Black-throated Diver showed quite well, though managed to keep away from wherever I was stationed.
Black-throated Diver, Chatham, Kent: 26 Dec 2018
Black-thoated Diver, Chatham, Kent: 26 Dec 2018
Black-throated Diver, Chatham, Kent: 26 Dec 2018

The Shag present was rather more cooperative.
Shag, Chatham: 26 Dec 2018

Later in the afternoon I managed to see the Ring-necked Duck from my lounge sofa - nice!

Ring-necked Duck, Leybourne Lakes: 26 Dec 2018
Ring-necked Duck, Leybourne Lakes: 26 Dec 2018
Converted a couple of today's pictures in to black and white - just to remind some friends what bird books of yesteryear used to look like...


Black-headed Gulls, Chatham, 26/12/18
Shag, Chatham, Kent: 26 Dec 2018
Ring-necked Duck, Leybourne Lakes; 26 Dec 2018

Sunday 23 December 2018

Ring-necked Duck from the lounge window: 23 Dec 2018

The report of a male Ring-necked Duck at Abbeymeads Pit, just a stone's throw, from 'my' gravel pit, had me scanning the water outside my house each morning with a little extra enthusiasm. Sure enough, a good scan on Saturday 22 Dec yielded bugger-all and I assumed the bird in question was still on its favoured pit a mile away (as the duck flies)...

Ring-necked Duck, Leybourne Lakes Country Park, 23/12/18
Checking my phone shortly after 10am, I had missed calls from Adam Whitehouse and John Clements - and that only meant one thing...someone else had relocated the Ring-necked Duck outside my house. Sure enough, after a bit of running (OK, ambling) around and there was the bird in question - fast asleep with Tufties and Pochard.
Ring-necked Duck, Leybourne Lakes Country Park, 23/12/18
(far right)
After taking a few naff record shots I returned home - it taking me a further hour before I could finally nail the bird from the lounge window!
Ring-necked Duck, Leybourne Lakes Country Park, 23/12/18
(somewhere in there..)
Whilst this visitor from North America is 'best' bird so far for the garden/house list, I am often reminded that the male Golden-winged Warbler of 1989 was seen where I now live. I missed it...as I spent winter of 88/89 in Jamaica - returning to the UK days after the ruddy thing had departed...




Monday 10 December 2018

9 Dec 2018 - Red-necked Grebe, Lade GPs, Kent

I hadn't seen a Red-necked Grebe for yonks - yonks, and yonks, to be precise - so news of a long-stayer in the county eventually got the better of me. Saturday dawned bright and not too breezy - so for some strange reason I ended up delaying teh trip to the coast until it started to cloud over.

By the time I got Lade GPs with Max it was starting to drizzle. Thankfully we made the most of a dry thirty minutes and legged it over the gravel to see the grebe.

The light was naff, too much wind, blah, blah, blah...usual excuses...
Red-necked Grebe, Lade GPs, Kent. 4 Dec 2018
Red-necked Grebe, Lade GPs, Kent. 4 Dec 2018
Red-necked Grebe, Lade GPs, Kent. 4 Dec 2018
Red-necked Grebe, Lade GPs, Kent. 4 Dec 2018
Red-necked Grebe, Lade GPs, Kent. 4 Dec 2018
Red-necked Grebe, Lade GPs, Kent. 4 Dec 2018
We then headed on to Dungeness RSPB reserve to avoid the rain - enjoying a couple of Cattle Egrets en route.

Cattle Egret, Dungeness, Kent - 9/12/18