Woody
Monday 16th February 2004, 14:21
Hi All,
Got up at 5.30am for my usual sunday morning jaunt with a mate and decided we'd drop into Oare. I was hoping for digiscope shots of kingfishers but when I saw the weather was dull and dreary (again) I didn't hold out much hope.
I didn't see a kingfisher all the time we were there but the day had it's compensations. We had a quick look at the noticeboard to see what was about then made our way to the hide overlooking Horse sands. Almost the first birds we saw from there were three red breasted mergansers, 1 male and 2 female. This was a totally new bird for me so to say I was chuffed would be understating it somewhat. The male put on a little bit of a display and the females followed him around like Peter Andre after Jordan! It was too dark and the birds too far away for photos but who cares!
Alongside the mergansers were two grey seals, closer than I've ever seen them at Oare. They seemed to be enjoying each others company, rolling around each other in a very sensuous way.
When we left Oare at arond 9.30 we stopped off at a millpond and had a quick look about for bullfinches in the adjacent orchards. Once again without success. But it was all made up for when we heard a commotion at the back of a small copse and watched as a sparrowhawk made an abortive attempt at the local blackbirds.
All in all a good few hours.
I don't know if I'm catching something from this forum but for the first time ever I made a list of the species seen (that I could ID), in no particular order:
Shoveller
skylark
reed bunting
blackbird
crow
rook
blue tit
wren
great tit
woodpigeon
collared dove
dunnock
robin
longtailed tit
sparrowhawk
black headed gull
red breasted merganser!
curlew
dunlin
redshank
oystercatcher
little egret
stonechat
pintail
mallard
little grebe
magpie
jay
mute swan
fieldfare
lapwing
marsh harrier
lesser black back gull
herring gull
meadow pipit
teal
wigeon
green woodpecker
starling
pheasant (very dark with no ring neck)
song thrush
chaffinch
greenfinch
house sparrow
shelduck
goldfinch
common gull
tufted duck
kestrel
heron
cormorant
coot
moorhen
(muscovy duck)
Cheers all!
Woody
Got up at 5.30am for my usual sunday morning jaunt with a mate and decided we'd drop into Oare. I was hoping for digiscope shots of kingfishers but when I saw the weather was dull and dreary (again) I didn't hold out much hope.
I didn't see a kingfisher all the time we were there but the day had it's compensations. We had a quick look at the noticeboard to see what was about then made our way to the hide overlooking Horse sands. Almost the first birds we saw from there were three red breasted mergansers, 1 male and 2 female. This was a totally new bird for me so to say I was chuffed would be understating it somewhat. The male put on a little bit of a display and the females followed him around like Peter Andre after Jordan! It was too dark and the birds too far away for photos but who cares!
Alongside the mergansers were two grey seals, closer than I've ever seen them at Oare. They seemed to be enjoying each others company, rolling around each other in a very sensuous way.
When we left Oare at arond 9.30 we stopped off at a millpond and had a quick look about for bullfinches in the adjacent orchards. Once again without success. But it was all made up for when we heard a commotion at the back of a small copse and watched as a sparrowhawk made an abortive attempt at the local blackbirds.
All in all a good few hours.
I don't know if I'm catching something from this forum but for the first time ever I made a list of the species seen (that I could ID), in no particular order:
Shoveller
skylark
reed bunting
blackbird
crow
rook
blue tit
wren
great tit
woodpigeon
collared dove
dunnock
robin
longtailed tit
sparrowhawk
black headed gull
red breasted merganser!
curlew
dunlin
redshank
oystercatcher
little egret
stonechat
pintail
mallard
little grebe
magpie
jay
mute swan
fieldfare
lapwing
marsh harrier
lesser black back gull
herring gull
meadow pipit
teal
wigeon
green woodpecker
starling
pheasant (very dark with no ring neck)
song thrush
chaffinch
greenfinch
house sparrow
shelduck
goldfinch
common gull
tufted duck
kestrel
heron
cormorant
coot
moorhen
(muscovy duck)
Cheers all!
Woody