Capstone Farm CP - 18th Oct 2014

With birds apparently appearing all around the coast, but not much time on my hands, I went for a couple of hours' walk to Capstone Farm CP near Chatham.  Sometimes this place can be a little sparse for birds, but there seemed to be some movement on this Saturday afternoon.

I walked from the top car park around the perimeter of the park.  Across the horse paddocks a small movement of 10+ Mistle Thrushes were passing through, alighting on the fenceline.

I continued around the park, noting Green Woodpecker, Great, Blue and Long-tailed Tits in mixed flocks.  One Chiffchaff called as it dropped into a bush out of sight.  However, the highlight was found right at the back of the park favouring the tops of bushes on a mound.  This Whinchat must be pretty late in passing through Kent:

I finished off with a few more common species including Pied Wagtails, Jackdaws, Carrion Crows and a lot of Jays.  One Redwing flying over added a wintery feel.

Of note from elsewhere, midweek saw a huge movement of Ring Ouzels through Kent with a high count of 550 through Dungeness!  I managed to catch up with the 7 at Leysdown-on-Sea at the Pitch and Putt:

Autumn's not over yet, so there's still hope for something decent in Kent!

Oare Marshes and some garden moths.

On Sunday 27th July I went for a walk around Oare Marshes, mainly to catch up with the Bonaparte's Gull, but there was plenty else about as well.  Lots of Avocet, Blackwits, Golden Plovers, a few Dunlin, Green Sands, Yellow Wagtail and an interesting moth - Sitochroa palealis.

Then overnight on Sunday I caught a Tree Lichen Beauty and a couple of Onocera semirubella, both were new for the garden.

A few pics here:

 Avocet

 Bonaparte's Gull

 Golden Plover

 Yellow Wagtail

Sitochroa palealis

Wow - I haven't posted for 14 months!

I'm not sure I can remember everything that's happend since May 2013.  In birding terms, I added 7 species to my BOU and Kent list (seeing as I rarely bird outside Kent), then in 2014, I did add one from outside Kent - the Short-toed Eagle.

In terms of moths, I have added 23 Macros and 46 Micros to my life list!

The bird additions were:

Bonaparte's Gull, 28/04/14 at Oare
Dusky Thrush (now accepted), 18/05/13 at Margate Cemetry
Montagu's Harrier, 18/05/13 at Reculver on the way home from the Thrush
Black Kite, 10/06/13 nr Selling
Lesser Yellowlegs, 25/09/13 at Cliffe
Lesser Grey Shrike, 06/10/13 at Capel Fleet, Sheppey
Yellow-browed Warbler, 14/10/13 at Reculver
Short-toed Eagle, 31/05/14 at Morden Bog in Dorset

The thrush was a big old twitch having rolled over in bed in the morning and checked Birdguides (I don't have a pager) and seen it was still there I shot off to the Cemetry.  Then on the way back, I swung by for the Monty's at Reculver.  Two in one day doesn't happen very often in Kent.

The Lesser Grey Shrike was hard work as I sprinted across the fields on the first evening only to hear it had just gone to roost.  I came back the next morning and connected which was really pleasing.

I found my first YBW in the poplar trees by the caravan park at Reculver having tried so many times for this species over the years!

Finally, the Short-toed Eagle rocked up on 31/05/14 when we were staying in Swange, Dorset.  I had seen it come up on Birdguides and it kept moving, leaving me thinking it was going to be the usual flyover reports.  Then just as I settled into the bath, I checked once more to find it was settled in a tree at Morden Bog!  Out the bath, dried and dressed then I high-tailed it the 9 miles to the Bog and ran to the 30-40 gathered people to watch it for about half an hour as the sun set.  A Nightjar started singing whilst we were there which added some value to the trip!

 My moth numbers have gone up, but only really stuck in the garden.  I'm still really keen to get hold of a generator to get out to some different habitat, but getting more and more into Micros has certainly helped with numbers.

As I write, my BOU list is on  272, my Kent list is on 242.
Macro moths is on 347 and Mircos on 97 = 444.

We're off to Dorset for a couple of weeks in the late summer, so might get some more moths.  Although the way this summer is going on the east coast for rarities, I might still pick up some new birds...