Stonechats at Henhurst Lake !

With a couple of hours spare I could not resist the temptation to revisit Jeskyns Country Park and look for those elusive Waxwings that reportedly are frequenting the area near Henhurst Lake, apparently not while I'm there.

I walked around the areas where the Waxwings have been seen in previous days, brilliant sunshine but freezing temperatures. My heart did start racing when I caught site of a small flock of birds flying in to the top of some trees, not Waxwings but a small flock of Redwings.

I ended up spending most of my time watching the Stonechats around the reedbeds of Henhurst Lake. I counted at least seven individuals, most were hunting through the reedbeds in pairs.

Interestingly I wondered what food sources they were finding, they were obviously attracted to the reedbeds.

I watched this female Stonechat hunting close by, she flew on to some dead vegetation and you could clearly see what she had found, a caterpillar of some sort, I wouldn't have thought that caterpillars would be around at this time of the year, especially in these freezing temperatures of late.

She flew to small grassy mound in front of me and proceeded to bash the caterpillar against the ground, I guess to kill it, so it was obviously alive.

The Stonechats seem relatively approachable allowing some nice photographic opportunities, although I could not get any flight pictures, plenty of posing.

Female Stonechat

Maybe I'll get the Waxwings on my next visit , third time lucky !

Alpha Pool !

Alpha pool, one of the Cliffe pools complex is not the easiest pool to access, but the chance to see all five species of Grebe on one pool has been tempting me since early December 1918, two Red Necked Grebes were reported back in November 2018, then a number of Black Necked Grebes up to four at one point were reported near the end of November, a Slavonian Grebe from mid December 2018, Little Grebes and Great Crested Grebes are resident birds throughout the year.

Now January, all the Grebes still in attendance, it was now or never. I parked up at the Cliffe pool RSPB car park and began the long trek down to the Alpha pool, loaded up with optical equipment I walked down past Flamingo Pool, a quick scan revealed Tufted Duck, Pochard, Shelduck, Coot, Little grebe, Lapwing,  plenty of Redwing in the Hawthorn beside the track, always wary.

Near the end of the Flamingo pool I joined the Saxon Shore Way which leads round to Higham bight on the River Thames,  I decided to ignore the Sign warning walkers that the path was closed due to erosion, not sure how long that was there or how relevant, I'd also come to far to turn around, I fought my way through the overgrown Hawthorn and bramble beside the sea wall and headed towards the gravel works, the footpath still in good order.

Back on the Saxon shore way  I approached Cliffe fort passing the old "Brennan Torpedo Launch site" looking decidingly neglected,

Brennan Torpedo Launch 

Installed in the late 19th century, the Cliffe Fort torpedo installation is one of only seven that were built in England.

I believe the original idea was to protect the upper reaches of the thames from enemy vessels.

These torpedoes were designed to be steered with trailing wires to their target

Had a range of about 1000 yards, the thames is relatively narrow here.

Never used in anger. removed in 1905

Cliffe Fort

Cliffe Fort is one of 5 surviving coastal forts in the Thames and Medway; the others are Coalhouse, Garrison Point, Hoo and Darnet. All of these are Royal Commission Coastal Forts, built in the same period 1860-70, and are casemented coastal batteries, it's a shame it cant be restored, still quite impressive.

Back on the Saxon Shore way the path was showing signs of erosion but still passable, I walked on past the old wreck of the 'Hans Egard', a large merchant ship grounded here back in the fifties, although battered daily by the Thames tides, still an impressive wreck, built in Denmark the ship had three masts in its heyday

Wreck of the ' Hans Egard '

Top end of Alpha Pool was now in view, there used to be a Boat club here in years gone by, couldn't see any signs of that now. I set up my scope as there were quite a few waterfowl close by, Tufted Duck, Pochard, unbelievably a Red Necked Grebe almost the first bird seen, and then the second Red necked grebe swam close by. The birds were quite distant and I couldn't resist trying for a photograph for that record shot.

Red-Necked Grebe

A good start, I walked on midway down the length of the pool, I was confronted with another sign warning me of the presence of  'Adders' I decided to take heed of this sign even though they would all be hibernating at this time of the year.

I set my scope up and scanned the waters, Three Black-Necked Grebes came into view, quite distant and staying in very close company to each other, could'nt find the fourth.

Black-Necked Grebes

Little Grebes were all around the pool, two Great Crested Grebes just starting to come into breeding plumage were seen. thats four species of Grebe just the Slavonian to find now.

I moved further down the pool and scanned towards the gravel workings at the far end of the pool,
more Little Grebes, the Slavonian Grebe finally surfaced among the Little Grebes where it flew a short distance before settling down on the water. To far for a photograph, with the cold wind effecting my ability to hold the binoculars still, I decided to head back.

But five species of Grebe on one pool was well worth the trek.

Jeskyns Country Park.

 Waxwings are one of those Winter visitors that cause much excitement amongst wildlife watchers, a gorgeous bird to watch and try and photograph.

They have been in the country for some time this winter, mostly up north and the midlands.
Cold weather and the depletion of berry supplies up north gradually pushes them further down south.

Finally news that they have reached Kent, with a report of at least twenty Waxwings in our local Country Park at Jeskyns had me reaching for the bins and camera and scurrying off to scour the park.

I was not alone, quite a few other enthusiasts were also searching, news that just one had been seen at daybreak and no further sightings since was discouraging, more cold weather is on the way so I'm sure they will reappear somewhere in the area.

So with no sightings of any Waxwings I consoled myself with a nice sighting of a pair of Yellowhammers, a bird I don't see very often, these were feeding in the scrub around Henhurst Lake.

Yellowhammer at Jeskyns Country Park

Friends Reunited !

My last blog page found me recapping the recent winter visitors to the garden and pear tree, I mentioned the fact that my tamed garden Robin known affectionately as my "little feathered friend" was conspicuous by his absence, the last time he fed from my hand was back in February 2018,  where once again he had managed to lure a female to his territory and looked like breeding once again in the Ivy nest box. but an inquisitive cat disturbed them, and I guess they found a new nesting site, he was not seen around the garden again, after this long absence I presumed that he may have died  or moved to a new territory.

A new Robin possibly a female, seen around the garden appears much shyer and  definitively not going to feed from my hand.

I felt quite sad really, I had built up a nice friendship with my previous Robin, dating back to March 2017, that's just under two years.

And so, as I was filling up the bird feeders in the greenhouse, I turned and came face to face with a Robin sitting on a plant bracket, about two feet from my face, surprisingly, he didn't fly off, could this be my little feathered friend, surely not,  I put  some mealworms in the palm  of my hand and tentatively reached out towards the Robin, to my surprise he flew down to my hand and took a mealworm, this was my friends reunited moment.

We now meet regularly at the greenhouse each morning, exchange a few meal worms before getting on with our daily routines.

The shyer Robin, which I'm guessing is a female and possibly a potential mate to my feathered friend watches close by in amazement, but as yet, not brave enough to feed from my hand. I usually place a few mealworms on an old feeding station and move back  a few steps, she will then fly down and feed on the mealworms

.

Time will tell if she will overcome her natural wariness.

What amazes me is the Robins obvious memory, now coming to my hand for feeding over the last twenty two months, with several periods of long absence in between.

I'm hoping they move back to the garden and breed again, we will see.