A trip to Kent

As a treat my Dad took me to Kent. He likes going there and I wanted to do a walk from Birchington to Reculver. The trip turned out to be a nice visit. We set off at around 9:10 and went to Sainsbury's to tank for petrol after that we headed straight off to Kent. It too us a good hour and a three quarters to get there including the delays at the Dartford Crossing. When we arrived we had a small breakfast before setting off. As we walked along next to the beach we spotted some Turnstones which we then realised were numerous unlike the 3 Sanderling which we saw with them. We then saw some Brent Geese which made a fly past and again we found a very large flock of them later up to c.80. With the Turnstones we saw the occasional Redshank and in the fields next to the sea we saw some Stonechats. As we carried on we saw more of the same species which we had already seen until we met TWO SHORELARKS (lifer) I stayed with them for a while photographing them and after about half an hour I moved on to find three Snow Buntings showing amazingly. After photographing the Snow Buntings I went to Reculver on the way I say some more Meadow Pipits and A pair of Common Scoter. On the way back to Birchington we saw the Shorelarks again but the Snow Buntings had gone.

Shore Lark

Snow Bunting

Common Scoter

Wilstone Slavonian Grebe

Today as I woke up with the newly fallen snow whitening the ground I decided to go and look for the Slavonian Grebe. When I eventually arrived at the reservoir were the Slav Grebe had been staying all I had to do was walk up the steps and there it was right in front of us we could see the Slavonian Grebe immediately with out  me binoculars. I started taking photos as soon as I could ignoring the sun which was shining straight towards me. After a while of taking pictures suddenly it wouldn't allow me to take any more pics so I had to delete some old ones which had luckily already been downloaded to the computer this took me a while and by the time I had  finished the grebe was on another part of the reservoir. After looking t it for a while I headed home.

Slavonian Grebe

Richmond Park Deer

Today I set off to Richmond Park to photograph the deer originally I was hoping to get a picture with the mist underneath the deer and the sun shining on it to make it look golden. It didn't happen, but instead I went and took pictures of the deer when I could.

Red Deer

KL School

Today I took my dog for a walk down Barnes Lane passing the fields of the KL school. As I was walking to the viewpoint I saw 3 Possible White-fronted Geese. Unfortunately I did not have my binoculars out and could not identify them properly. I carried on and looked over the field. On the field there were no wagtails but 3 Green Woodpecker and a few Magpies.

Barnes Lane and KL school

Today I decided to go down Barnes Lane to see if any Yellow Wagtails had turned up yet for the autumn migration. Unfortunately there were none to be seen but instead a large amount of Black-headed Gulls and some thrushes which were to far away to tell what they were due to it being foggy. I walked down Barnes Lane and looked in the pastoral fields to see if any birds had been pushed down by the fog. Again there were none and I headed back home. I looked over the playing field of the KL school and saw a large amount of Pied Wagtails c. 20 and and a Mistle Thrush.

Kent Wryneck at last

Today I went with Chris, Brendan and Paul to Kent. We had the idea of looking for the roost of the Long-eared Owl on Sheppey. When we arrived at Elmley we went straight to the orchard to look for them. After about five minutes someone found one which was hiding in plain sight. The LONG-EARED OWL (lifer) was roosting almost in front of us and when the warden spoke loudly it didn't move.

Long-eared Owl

After looking at the Long-eared Owl for a while we moved on and went to Dover to see a Wryneck. Again we talked to people and they told us where it had been seen. We walked to the right place and after a few minutes a thrush like bird flew from the undergrowth to a bush we ID it as a WRYNECK (lifer). It showed well but unfortunately my camera didn't focus on the bird properly so here is a out of focus shot of the Wryneck.

Wryneck in bush

Birding in Kings Langley Booklet

Hello everyone.
My booklet on birding in Kings Langley is now available. If you would like to get one please email me at ephraim@ephraimperfect.co.uk. The booklet is free. For more information click here.