Scarlet Pimpernel

They seek him here

They seek him there

Those Frenches seek him everywhere

Is he in Heaven?

Or is he in Hell?

That demned illusive Pimpernel.

Odds fish m'dear!

Flamborough Head

Yesterday I suddenly realised that I hadn't seen any seabirds this year and as Flamborough is just 40 minutes away I drove there whilst the weather was acceptable. I didn't see anything unexpected but it was nice to watch large numbers of Kittiwakes, Gannets, Puffins, Razorbills and Guillemots go about their business.

Lots of Gannets were flying past, both north and south with quite a number of juveniles amongst the flocks. Kittiwakes were the most numerous with better numbers of juveniles fledging than in the previous few years when the breeding season was a massive failure. Below is a picture of Kittiwakes nesting on one of the cliffs.

Whilst watching these a single Fulmar flew past as did a pair of noisy Sandwich Terns. Good numbers of House Martins and Swifts were feeding in the air and a couple of Skylarks were in aerial song. On the rocks below the cliffs were large numbers of gulls; Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great Black-backed Gull and a single Black-headed Gull along with a few Oystercatchers and a lone Redshank.

I took a walk around some of the farmland adjacent to the cliffs where I came across a Pied Wagtail, a Wren, a male Reed Bunting, 2 Meadow Pipits and a Coot on a farm pond. This farmland is being managed for wildlife and there were loads of nice flowers in the field margins including piles of Kidney Vetch, pictured below.

Blea Tarn and Eskdale

With another huge fried breakfast inside me I headed uphill from Boot village towards Blea Tarn. The by now customary Yellowhammers, Willow Warblers, Wrens and Chaffinches were joined by plenty of Robins, including a number of juveniles, and a family party of Great Tits.

Once upon the ridgetop a Raven flew over doing its best demonstration of its "graak, graak" call and a Kestrel was hunting over some very boggy land. Somehow I got a bit lost amongst the crags and bogs, which is strange as this is exactly what happened to my dad and I when we came up here 27 years ago - he carried me across the bogs - this time I had to manage on my own getting very wet feet in the process. I found Blea Tarn and nearby Stiny Tarn where a Reed Bunting was busy calling - a quite unexpected species here. The view across the valley to Harter Fell, where I was yesterday was quite good and foretold the rain that was to come later.

Harter Fell

I walked across the moors where some old druid circles exist and some farmers were using sheepdogs to round up sheep before heading downhill. The path down was full of birds with 5 Tree Pipits, 2 juvenile Great Spotted Woodpeckers, a male Blackcap, a Whitethroat and many more common species.
Back down in the valley I walked down to the River Eske and along through the woods. Whilst walking across some fields I came across some juvenile Swallows being fed by their parents and allowing me to approach very closely: a nearby sheep seemed very interested in the whole episode too!


The woodlands were once again alive with species; Coal Tit, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Spotted Flycatcher, Goldcrest, Blue Tit, Song Thrush, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker and a pair of Jays. The river Eske here is very beautiful, I remember having picnics here when I was small but today a Grey Wagtail was picnicking on insects. Heading back to the car the rain began to fall quite heavily so I drove to the coastal village of Ravenglass.

Eel Tarn and Burnmoor Tarn

I decided to go to the Lake District National Park for a few days, despite the weather forecast being for rather poor weather. The national park took me about 3 hours to get to, but the journey took another hour as I was heading for the western lakes, probably the most spectacular part.

I headed into Eskedale and found a B&B at the foot of Hardknott Pass, a place called Wha House Farm. It was a nice place to stay with lovely views and the lady running it was very friendly. The weather forecast was wrong, with fairly good weather, just a little cloud and only on the highest mountains, so I went off for a walk at about 3.45pm. Starting at the Woolpack Inn, I headed uphill to Eel Tarn. A number of birds were easily seen with a Greenfinch at the pub and a Willow Warbler in the trees just behind. A small conifer plantation behind the Woolpack Inn provided the launching point for 2 male Redpolls to perform their song flight. Unexpectedly, the bracken covered hillside was full of Yellowhammers in song, the dark colour of the bracken providing a perfect contrast for the vivid colour of the male Yellowhammers.

After a short climb I reached Eel Tarn, a very pretty spot with views of Harter Fell in one direction and Scafell Pike in another. A pair of Ravens flew overhead and on the tarn itself were two Mallard and a Little Grebe; both seemed a little out of place up here.

Eel Tarn and Harter Fell

It felt a bit strange to be up there again as the last time I visited Eel Tarn was 27 years ago when I was just 7 years old. My father used to take me for walks up there whilst my mother was getting ready to go out on our family holidays to a farm in Eskedale; needless to say the views are as good as ever although it was sad that my father is no longer here to join me on this walk.

With plenty of time before darkness I decided to walk further along to Burnmoor Tarn, another place I last visited as a child with my dad. The walk provided great views of nearby Scafell Pike as the clouds cleared to reveal the summit, although the footpath was soaked and lost amongst Sphagnum Moss and Bog Asphodel. Just as I was thinking that I should have seen more birds, a male Whinchat began calling from nearby bracken. It gave me good views for quite some time. Also showing themselves were a Wren and a Kestrel.

After sinking up to my knees in mud I reached a lonely Burnmoor Tarn where a strange hunting lodge is situated. On the lake were a pair of Great Crested Grebes and two pairs of Wheatears with young noisily feeding and fighting. The only tree for miles around is located next to the lodge and a Tree Pipit had managed to find it; funny how easy this is to seperate from Meadow Pipit when the two are seen close to each other - up here it is a Meadow Pipit heaven.

On the way back down into the valley I saw some more Whinchats before walking through some woodland where I saw a number of species: Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Wood Pigeon, Dunnock, Robin, Coal Tit and a juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker. I walked back to the Woolpack Inn along the valley, through more woodland and farmyards and just before getting back to the car a Grey Heron flew out of a small stream and a Common Buzzard flew overhead.

Then off to the George the Fourth pub for chicken and leek pie which by that time was urgently needed.

The Flooding continues at Eske

This afternoon I walked up to the lake at Eske, but very little about apart from a pair of Grey Partridges on the walk up. The water level of the River Hull has hardly gone down at all since the flooding a few weeks back and many fields are still so far under water that flocks of Black-headed Gulls, Common Gulls and Greylag Geese have taken to them. To see a Great Crested Grebe and Tufted Ducks swimming around on a pea field is rather bizarre, but they seem to have taken to it along with Lapwings, Oystercatchers and a Cormorant.

On the lake were about 20 Mallard in eclipse plumage, a few Tufted Ducks and 2 male Pochard. One Reed Warbler was still singing and a Common Tern was hunting over the lake but very little else. On the way back to the car I saw a Yellowhammer, a group of Linnets and a few Swifts and Swallows. Not one of the most memorable birding trips.

Rainham Marsh

On my way back home to Beverley I decided to take a look at the RSPB's new reserve at Ranham in East London after reading about it in May's edition of Birds; the fact that a Spoonbil had been hanging around there for a few days helped sway the decision.

I assumed (wrongly) that the reserve would be signposted from the A13 which is rather daft as although the reserve is known as Rainham marsh, the entrance is on the edge of Purfleet, Essex.

The reserve has a good car park and a visitor centre that blends in with the industrial landscape and employs a huge amount of security features including drawbridges!!!!

From the visitor centre there are good views over the marsh, and although it was mostly dry, one can see that in winter, when flooded, it will be extremely attractive to wintering birds. On the 2.5 mile circuit I saw a few nice birds, but things were rather quiet. 5 Little Egrets were present along with at least 15 Grey Herons. The Spoonbill was easily found with a group of herons but the only waterbirds present were 5 Little Grebes, numerous Coots with young, a few Moorhens and about 12 Canada Geese.

A damp scrape held about 12 Lapwings, a few Black-headed Gulls and 7 Ringed Plovers and a number of Skylarks were singing in the warm sunshine.

Other birds seen included Reed Bunting, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Pied Wagtail, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull and Greenfinch along with some other common species such as Magpie and Collared Dove.

Nice to see Spoonbill, but otherwise a trip to the reserve in winter or spring is needed to see it at its best.

Dartford Marshes

I haven't been to Dartford marshes for a couple of years now; quite frankly, that is because it isn't that great a place and when I'm home I usually visit other sites; however, I decided to take a look today to see what was about.

Dartford marsh is not much of a marsh really, just a bunch of fields and rough land, but an open area of land in what is becoming an increasingly developed corridor along the River Thames which can sometimes turn up some interesting species. I drove as far towards the river wall as is possible and parked. I walked just a few metres when a Corn Bunting landed on a fence post and began to call. He was a real monster of a Corn Bunting and not at all shy allowing me to approach to about 3 metres. I watched him for about 10 minutes as he called across an area of ryegrass cultivated for a local model airplane club. The few times I flushed him, he immediately returned to the same place, indicating that this was his selected territory. at no time did I see any female or any other calling males. However, I didn't walk around the whole area so they may have been other birds around, although the sun was out, ideal weather for calling Corn Buntings, and search as I might, I couldn't detect any other Corn Buntings.

Further along a Reed Bunting was singing from a reedy ditch along with some Reed and Sedge Warblers and numerous Skylarks were singing away as was a lone Meadow Pipit.

At the river a number of gulls were loafing around; a few Great Black-backed, about 10 Lesser Black-backed, 3 Herring Gulls and lots of Black-headed Gulls including a few of this year's juveniles, but most interesting were two first year Yellow-legged Gulls - Dartford Marsh is a pretty reliable site for this species. A Common Sandpiper flushed from the river bank and headed towards Essex. Further along 3 more Common Sandpipers were feeding and a family of Linnets were feeding on weed seeds.

I walked along to Littlebrook power station to look for Black Redstarts that used to nest there but found only House Martins, Starlings, Pied Wagtails and Cormorants.

By this time I was getting hot and was late for lunch with my grandparents so I hurried back to the car seeing a Green Woodpecker and a Whitethroat on the way.

Littlebrook Power Station and Queen Elizabeth 2 Bridge, Dartford Marsh

First Dartford Warbler for quite some time!

I really fancied going to the New Forest in search of dartford Warblers but the weather forecast for that region was terrible. However, the weather at Ashdown Forest was supposed to be a little better so I hoped to find my target there.

On arrival I got soaked! The rain was a persistent mist and I searched pretty much vainly for birds, although I did find a Whitethroat, some Coal Tits and a Treecreeper, always a nice bird. The habitat was very nice though with gorse, bracken and open woodland, mainly Scots Pine and Oak.

Eventually the rain began to ease off and the birds came out with a pair of Stonechats providing some welcome colour to a grey day. Soon, though, plenty more species were around with a couple of Yellowhammers, Linnets, some singing Goldcrests, Blue Tits, Great Tits and a Green Woodpecker. With the weather improving I had a chance to take a couple of photos of some Bog Ashpodel in habitat that was put me more in mind of northern Britain rather than a location just 20 minutes from Gatwick airport!

Bog Asphodel

I took an early lunch in the car and headed to a second part of the forest with lots of open heathland. I had a lovely walk in the sunshine! It didn't take long before I came across a pair of Woodlarks which foraged around on the ground, giving me excellent views before they flew off. A little further along a family of Long-tailed Tits were feeding in trees and a distant Tree Pipit was in song. However, a suden influx of Meadow Pipits, a couple of Woodlarks a number of Skylarks and another Tree Pipit, all in flight at the same time, but not singing, gave me a real identification headache.

Moving down a valley into some woodland another Green Woodpecker flew off, uttering its ridiculous laugh and a whole load of other common species were in evidence including a distant, but noisy Whitethroat.

It is also worth mentioning how common Stonechat was on the heathland around here. I lost count of how many I saw, with lots of juveniles being fed by their parents. Still, by now I was getting a bit frustrated at not seeing any Dartford Warblers, but just as I was taking a break I heard some raucous chirpring coming from a gorse bush. After several minutes of searching I found 2 very young juvenile Dartford Warblers - seperable from Whitethroat by the dark upperparts. However, this was not really as good as getting the adult.

Just a few hundred metres further along I stopped to watch some Linnets, another Tree Pipit and countless Stonechats and Skylarks when suddenly an adult Dartford Warbler flew straight at me and landed in some nearby gorse. What a view! I watched this female for ages as it hunted for food and saw it very clearly catch a small green caterpillar and eat it. Here is a fairly poor record shot of the bird.

Dartford Warbler

Dartford Warbler is a special bird for me as it is what got me interested in bird watching. I remember seeing one with my dad on some cliffs in Cornwall when I was just 7 years old. I couldn't believe that dartford (where I come from) had its own bird - I thought that was brilliant and was good enough to make me buy my first pair of binoculars the next day. Dartford Warbler is probably still my favourite bird of all, maybe one day it will find its way back to what is left of Dartford Heath.

Plenty more birds on the way back to the car including 7 flyover Herring Gulls, a Willow Warbler, a couple of Blackcaps and a whole load of Swifts as well as a monster Mistle Thrush.

Searching for Corn Buntings

Yesterday evening I went for a stroll to chceck out the Corn Bunting population near my mother's home in Hawley, near Dartford. Most of the oilseed rape had already been harvested, leaving just a few fields of wheat standing. I saw a few Skylarks and Linnets but no buntings; quite unusual.

A few other birds were around: Swift, Swallow, Wood Pigeon and a singing Whitethroat, but it wasn't until the last field that I saw a Corn Bunting, followed by another and another....
I counted 22 all in just about 1 hectare of land. Many were juveniles with just 3 calling males. Strangely these were the only Corn Buntings I saw. I hope that this isn't all that is left otherwise theyare in trouble here. I think more likely that most of the population is already lying low, moulting after completing breeding quite early.

Not much else on the way back, just Magpie, Carrion Crow and Stock Dove, but that is expected - Corn Buntings are the only real speciality of these arable fields.

Darenth Valley, 11th July 2007

Home for a few days, visiting my family so I decided to make the most of the time with a walk along my old local patch along the Darenth Valley near Dartford in Kent. I walked the section between Hawley and Sutton-at-Hone which includes gravel pits, alder woodland, hay fields, pasture and watercress beds. Over a period of about 25 years I have seen a surprising number of species along here - 109 at the last count. Mind you I didn't really expect to add to that on this walk.

Not a huge amount around, due to both the time of year and the time of day of the walk, but a few nice birds were seen. The local Ring-necked Parakeet population continues to grow with at least four pairs with young seen; 10 years ago this species hadn't made it this far out of London, but now they are ever increasing in number. A few warblers continue to sing with a couple of Blackcaps, a Chiffchaff and a Whitethroat and a number of common birds such as Linnet, Greenfinch, Blue Tit and Great Tit.

Whilst searching for more Parakeets I noticed a sub adult Grey Heron sitting on a wall. a common species but one I always like to see; it has been one of my favourites since I was a kid.

The lakes held almost nothing with just a couple of Mallard, two Tufted Ducks, a bunch of Greylag Geese and plenty of Coots with young. Just a single Moorhen and 2 Black-headed Gulls.
The watercress beds were very quiet too, but at least there was a Kingfisher present. This spot is much better in winter when it is a reliable location for Green Sandpiper; however, it is one of the prettiest spots along this section of the valley and a place that holds a lot of memories for me. The most amazing was in a very hard winter in 1985 or 86 or maybe 87 (I must be getting old, I can't remember) when a Bittern flushed out of the cress bed only a few feet in front of myself and my father. The water comes out of a spring and in winter is often the only unfrozen water for miles around.

Not much else was seen, Swallow, House Martin and Swift, and a few Stock Doves along with the more common species. On my way back I came across a number of wild plum trees and helped myself to the ripe fruit. Whilst munching these I noticed a badger sett in the hedgerow - this was confirmed by a number of black and white, wiry hairs in the sett entrance.

Finally, something worth mentioning

Weeks of dismal weather has meant that I have not been out too often, and when I have been out there has been little of interest. However, last monday I got out for a walk up to Eske. The flooding from the rain the previous monday was still very bad and much of the surrounding farmland was still under a few feet of water, turning the whole place into a massive wetland.

At the polo club a group of Tufted Ducks were swimming on what should have been the pitch and a large number of gulls were resting on it: 42 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 12 Herring Gulls, 5 Common Gulls and 10 unidentifed sub-adult Herring/Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Also present were a pair of Oystercatchers.

Large numbers of House Martins. Swallows and Swifts were feeding over the water and a female Kestrel was hunting over what little dry land remained.

On the lake, about 40 Mallard were reaching eclipse plumage and a apir of Shoveler were resting along with the male Wigeon and female Goldeneye. All the Great Crested Grebes were swimming around aimlessly as if wondering what had happened to their nests.

Further along the river 8 Grey Herons were hunting amongst flooded oilseed rape and 3 Cormorants, 24 Greylag Geese, 7 Mute Swans and a Great-crested Grebe were making use of a flooded barley field, whilst a pair of Marsh Harriers hunted over it.

On the way back I spotted large numbers of Bee orchids just finishing flowering and about 40 spikes of Pyramidal Orchid. A few Common Spotted Orchid were flowering too. Most interesting was a Common Sandpiper on the River Hull on the way back. Perhaps some waders are already making the return journey southwards?