Cliffe 07/02/22

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A late morning start in sunny weather at Cliffe, though clouding over in the afternoon.  

From Westcourt Farm I followed the path alongside Brett's to the Alpha Pool. With no recent report of divers I was pleasantly surprised to find that two Black-throated Divers were still present on the Alpha. They were initially found at the fort end of the pool though typically dived for long periods, reappearing some distance away, and the birds were in the lower half of the pool when I left. Also present on the Alpha were two female Red-breasted Merganser, one on the black booms, the other nearby.

Near the fort and just beyond the seawall an adult female Peregrine was trying to spook Teal and Wigeon into flight, though the ducks sat tight on the water and after a while the falcon flew off west.

The breached sluice at Cliffe Creek has been successfully repaired and in the shallow lagoon behind this a Greenshank was found. The bird had been colour-ringed and photographs taken enabled it to be subsequently identified as 'Billy', first ringed at Kingsnorth in August 2006. Billy has been a regular at Cliffe since then, being reported every year. The bird may become the oldest surviving colour-ringed Greenshank in the UK, the record currently being 16 years.

It was high tide and many waders had assembled on the RSPB reserve. Amongst the very high numbers of Lapwing were also many Golden Plover, my count being 680.

Red-breasted Merganser

Red-breasted Merganser

Repaired sluice

Greenshank (Billy)

Greenshank 

Linnets

Chaffinch

Shoveler 

Goldeneye


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