Cliffe Pools 13-7-2013

Saturday saw Wendy and I take a trip out to Cliffe, it being July and scorching hot I did not expect to see much bird-wise and hoped that the Butterflies and Dragonflies would make up for this but it was a lifetime spot that made the day for me. From the Car Park a scan of Kingfisher Pool revealed a number of Black Headed Gulls, Coots, Canada Geese and Greylag Geese whilst the odd Wood Pigeon and Carrion Crow were in the woods behind us. The butterfly spotting got off to a quick start with a Small Heath, Small White and several Meadow Browns whilst Common Blue Damselflies abounded.

Common Blue Damselfly - Canon 400D + 100-400mm

The walk to Radar Pool gave forth Goldfinch, Robin, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Long Tailed Tit, and several Comma Butterflies.

Comma Butterfly - Canon 400D + 100-400mm



From the viewing platform over Radar Pool I was slightly saddened that with the exception of a couple of Common Terns and 3 Oystercatchers the nearby islands had been taken over by Black Headed Gulls who were also making a huge amount of noise from the pool behind me, I am sure there was more variety on the islands last year. The water provided more Coots, Great Crested Grebes, a solitary Tufted Duck, a single Dabchick and some Pochard.

Unknown (to me) Dragonfly

On the way to Flamingo Pool I saw some distant House Sparrows and a Great Tit. There were more white butterflies along with the few blues however they remained unidentified due to their constant movement (hence why no Photos either) Fortunately this Cinnabar Moth happily stopped for a photo.

Cinnabar Moth - Canon 400D + 100-400mm

On Flamingo there were a number of Great Crested Grebes including a pair briefly displaying.

Great Crested Grebes - Canon 400D + 100-400mm

Along the far shore were a large number of Bar Tailed Godwits all in summer plumage along with a few Lapwings and what I believe to be Whimbrel (though I am more than happy to be corrected to Curlew - the view through my scope was not any clearer than this heavily enlarged shot).

BH Gulls Lapwings and Whimbrels? - Canon 400D + 100-400mm

There were also 2 flocks of Avocets with a few Little Egrets and some Shelducks. The heat was getting to me so I returned to the car seeing a Collared Dove, a Dunnock and a Magpie on the way. I decided to drive round to the other side of Radar where sadly the water provided nothing new however I did find a pair of Whitethroats busy collecting food for fledglings.

Whitethroat - Canon 400D + 100-400mm

 

I was attracted to a small bush by some reeds from which I could hear some high pitched peeping (not unlike a squeaky wheel on a bike) and decided I was looking for a really small bird and then saw one flitting around at the back of the bush, I then saw some tail feathers of what I thought was a dove in the bush and the small flitting bird which turned out to be a Reed Warbler landed next to it.

Reed Warbler with young Cuckoo in background (apologies but autofocus latched on to leaves not the Warbler)

Then it dawned on me, the dove was a Cuckoo and I was watching a pair of Reed Warblers frantically gathering food for it. Whenever either of the adults returned the Cuckoo let out the high pitched squeaking which did not equate to its size in any way. I was fascinated and as they were unconcerned by my presence I was able to watch them for about 15 minutes, despite the length of time photo opportunities were very few and I had no wish to disturb them with random clicking.

Juvenile Cuckoo  - Canon 400D + 100-400mm

Other sightings for the day included a Heron flying low over the BH Gull island being heavily mobbed, a Green Woodpecker, a Cormorant and some Starlings, heard but not seen were Jackdaws and a Chaffinch. Other wildlife seen was a rapidly scampering lizard, a pair of young adult foxes and this dragonfly whose wings glistened with coppery sparkles my knowledge is poor on Odonata and I am going to plumb for a female Darter of some sort.

Female Common Darter ?

Only 26 bird sightings for the day, but a once in a lifetime experience with the Cuckoo especially as numbers appear to be plummeting (in fact this was the first Cuckoo I have seen or heard this year) so I was more than happy.

Cliffe Pools

Sunday I took a trip to Cliffe Pools, it was a gusty but bright day. I started off with a look over the pool by the car park  which contained mainly coot, however around  the far edges were some Mallards, Pochards, Tufted Ducks, Great Crested Grebes and a Dabchick, also standing around on the  western shore with a few Lapwing were well over a hundred Redshank.

Great Crested Grebe & Black Headed Gull - Canon 400D + 100-400mm

I then went on to Radar Pool and turned left to walk along its southern shore, there was not a lot of activity on the pool except a small flotilla of 20+ dabchicks which was nice to see. The path itself was a different matter, a flock of Goldfinches flew overhead, followed a little while later by a mixed flock of waders and then a moment later a flock of Redshanks, I would like to think that there were a couple of Spotted Redshank amongst them, though that could just be their flight angle slewing the white rumps, check out the one near top RH corner.

Redshank in flight - Canon 400D + 100-400mm

The path to Flamingo Pool was alive with butterflies, mainly Small Whites and Red Admirals, a solitary Meadow Brown showed itself as did a couple of Commas, Dragonflies were also plentiful with positive identification on Common Darter and Migrant Hawker Dragonflies, there were others but they were too fast for identification.

Common Darter - Canon 400D + 100-400mm

Migrant Hawker - Canon 400D + 100-400mm

Flamingo Pool was initially quiet however as I walked around to the Western side a couple of flocks of waders flew in and seemed to line up in the water. At the far right were Grey Plover in a variety of plumages with a couple still in full summer, then there were Black Tailed Godwits, followed by Dunlin and Curlew Sandpipers, whilst on the shore were Ringed Plovers, and a number of Little Egrets. I have to thank the RSPB warden who was there for helping me to pick out the Curlew Sandpipers. Whilst we stood sheltering from the buffeting wind behind his truck, Avocets started to fly in from the Thames and started to feed, in all about 300 of them. Sadly all in Flamingo pool were just too far away to photograph properly.

Black Tailed Godwits (over Radar Pool) - Canon 400D + 100-400mm

I returned to the car park via the same route still marvelling at the number of butterflies and dragonflies and at the junction of Flamingo Pool and Radar I found some Small Heaths flitting about.

Small Heath -- Canon 400D + 100-400mm

From the path viewing point over Radar pool I watched some roosting gulls on the northern shore. Black Headed Gulls were mixed with Great Black Backed Gulls, Shellduck and a couple of Herring Gulls, there was also a Lesser Black Backed Gull being pestered for food from a youngster. Wandering amongst these were some Starlings and a Pied Wagtail, whilst swimming past on the pool were three Wigeon.

Red Admiral - Canon 400D + 100-400mm

Small White - Canon 400D + 100-400mm

Red Admirals - Canon 400D + 100-400mm

The last sightings of the day were a flock of Long Tailed Tits with a few Blue Tits among them. Other spots for the day included Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Oystercatcher, Swallow and Wood Pigeon. Heard but not seen was a Pheasant, a Robin and some Magpies. The day list was 32, not bad for me at Cliffe, sadly I did not get to see the Little Stint or Ruff that were there that day, maybe next time.

If there are any misidentifications please let me know, I am a complete novice with Dragonflies and Butterflies. Please also the post below. Painkillers are working so 2 posts today.