In the wilds of Thurrock

Been out to the east of the London area this afternoon with Paul H, primarily to count waders as part of Dave Morrison’s co-ordinated high tide roost survey. The saltmarsh and industrial structures generally hold fairly large roosts, and with a particularly high tide predicted, we were hopeful for a decent selection of birds.

Thurrock should definitely be classified as an urban site. It certainly lacking in classic wilderness scenery, though compensation is provided in the form of an extensive selection of graffiti on the river wall. Amongst the repetitive primary colour ‘tags’, a proportion of the panels are quite impressive.

And the entrance to the site features the most bizarrely contrasting pair of buildings you could imagine – St Clements church, and the enormous Proctor & Gamble factory looming behind it:

Once we’d made our way along the river wall, out of range of the sweet smell of Persil, and past Stone Point, we picked out a wader roost site on the south shore. Numbers weren’t anything spectacular (c350 Redshank, c100 Dunlin, 25 Curlew, 8 Oystercatcher, c30 Lapwing, few Snipe, Water and Rock Pipit), but in ridiculously warm sunshine for late November, life wasn’t feeling too bad at all.

And then Paul found these three little beauties!

Snow Bunting is not an easy bird to catch up with in the London recording area, and these were a tick for both of us (when I’d eventually managed to clap eyes on them!). Apparently my 226th in London, though I maintain I’m not really trying on that score – schlepping an hour each way round the M25 to the west London reservoirs, or crawling through to Beddington or the Wetland Centre, for species that I see regularly elsewhere doesn’t exactly float my boat!

Happy days… particularly for Paul, since he had had the foresight to put wellies on, and was able to splosh out for closer, on-the-deck views. My best photos shown here are pretty terrible, but I think you can expect something much better on his blog later!

Eastern Black Redstart, Margate

A day of many colours in Kent: black and red are obvious from the post’s title, but then bright green, flaming orange and gleaming white followed on, all set against glorious blue skies!

I made an early start to arrive at Palm Bay just before 8am and quickly found a small group of birders who confirmed that the Eastern Black Redstart (phoenicuroides) was still present. The first Black Red I clapped eyes on was a regular bird, showing well in the early morning light:

But then ‘the boy’ appeared, and proceeded to show superbly to just a few metres – it favoured railings and the seaweed-covered beach just east of the Jetski Safari office, sometimes flicking up above our heads to rest on the cliffs. It was repeatedly aggressive towards any other Black Reds that came nearby, perhaps appearing a fraction larger in direct comparison? As the sunshine strengthened, the intensity of the rufous underparts seemed to grow… and the rate of motor drives firing certainly did!

 

After filling my boots (and memory card) with the Redstart, I moved just down the road to check some local sites for migrants. First stop was Northdown Park, where I didn’t find much other than numerous Ring-necked Parakeets. They’re hard to resist, though – very smart!

And just down the road, I tried out King George VI Memorial Park on the clifftop at Ramsgate (brought to many birders’ attention when Andy Lawson and Rich Bonser searched the site and found a Bluetail on a rainy day a few autumns ago). The ivy-covered trees and holm oaks along the clifftop path held at least three Firecrests – for the second time recently, I spent more time than I intended trying to get photos, without really getting the killer shot I wanted. They’re just too quick!

After an hour or so checking the scrub around the old hoverport at Pegwell Bay, I headed south to try for some photos at Dungeness. My main target was the very long-staying Glaucous Gull – after a bit of research this evening, I reckon tomorrow will the first anniversary of its arrival at the site! I’ve not got a good track record with this bird, having missed it numerous times while looking for other things, but this time it was only too easy, soaring around over the fishing boats looking out for a free meal.

The remainder of the daylight was spent checking the ARC pit, noting a redhead Smew and a Long-tailed Duck, plus good numbers of Golden Plover.

What did YOU come here looking for?

Just been idly scanning the search terms that people use to hit my blog, primarily from Google. Most make good sense – I have indeed written some words about:

• Shetland bird blog    [alas, no more of this for another year]
• “isabelline daurian shrike 2011 norfolk suffolk kent”    [well, I photographed one in Shetland and saw the one in Kent]
• “pom skua 6th november cley”    [though I still maintain the bird I photographed wasn’t one!]
• “catharus thrush in flight”    [no photos from me on that one, but <gloat >seen a couple this autumn </gloat>]

Stretching back a little further into the archives, we find:

• birding blogs Texas    [alas, no more of this for several years in all probability]
• African Fish Eagle   
• Malawi Mammals
• real Roadrunner   [and I threw in the cartoon version for ID clarification]

All searchers no doubt very satisfied with my elegant prose thus far. But we move on down the list and find a few less obvious options:

• “14 point Red Deer alive”    [fortunately I haven’t highlighted the location of one, since I suspect it might be doomed otherwise…)]
• “Birds of Thailand – grouse”    [doesn’t ring any bells – though sounds like a cryptic crossword clue]
• “a lot of parakeets in the wild”   [my photos of just two were probably a disappointment]

And then we move onto the real quality. First, I wish Jono would just bookmark my site and stop Googling for it:

• “attractive sheep”

Yep, really. Happily I am not on the first page of results for this specialist search term, though this post may well elevate my position in the rankings. Still, there’s no such thing as bad (baaaaa-d?) publicity: ewe never know who’s going to be reading your ram-blings. (Sorry – I’ll get my fleece coat.)

And then, finally, we reach the ‘just plain insulting’:

• “bad photography examples”

I’m not on the top ten there, either, though it’s still something a little short of flattering. If that was YOU typing in the search box: I hope you were satisfied… but if not, please come back later. I’m sure I have plenty of material right up your street!