STEVE ASHTON'S WILDLIFE GALLERY

My Diary

A morning spent on the Sandwich Bay estate

I arrived at the Restharrow scrape this morning, just after 9 o clock, hoping to catch the Female Mandarin that Steve Reynaert reported on his blog yesterday. Unfortunately, I never saw the bird, but throughout the morning i had ample opportunity for some photos of the commoner species that you would expect to find around the estate at this time of year.
Gadwall, Tufties, Teal, Mallard and Shoveller were all seen on the scrape, along with a pair of Canada Geese, that dropped in just after I arrived. My first Sand Martins of 2010 were seen over the scrape, as 5 passed by, and 3 Little Grebes all came close to the hide, allowing some photos to be taken, a couple of times with the sun out, which was a bonus. Two Oystercatchers were doing what they do at this time of the year, on one of the Islands, and a steady stream of Corvids and Gulls passed overhead for the hour I spent in the hide. I then walked down the Ancient highway, skirting the golf course and down to the sea, where several Meadow Pipits, Corn Buntings and Skylarks, (all of which could be heard even by my not so good ears) were noted in fairly high numbers. I spent 20 minutes, trying to get a few photos of Skylarks in flight, a somewhat difficult task, as documented by Steve Ray on his Flickr site, when he tried to get flight shots of them a few weeks earlier. A Kestrel was my only raptor for the morning, but i was not sky watching, so there were probably more species passing, but flying by unnoticed. I ventured back to the Restharrow hide, passing through the Elms, where i saw Dunnock, Long-tailed, Blue and Great Tits, a few Robins, more than enough Magpies, one Jay, and I heard possibly 2 Green Woodpeckers. Back at the hide i met Martyn Wilson, whom had found the Penduline Tit at Grove ferry, and after a chat I left for home. On the way back, I saw 5 Grey Wagtails in a stream, and watched them continually dipping into the water for insects, before returning to there perch, a wall running along side the stream. Lots of photo opportunities throughout the morning, for the most part in sunshine, but the wind is still stronger than one would wish for. A trip to the Sea Life centre in Boulogne with the Grand children tomorrow, but Monday will be back to business as usual.