RSPB Cliffe Pools – sightings 20/11/11 

On Saturday, Cliffe Pools had a visit from staff and volunteers of the London Wildlife Trust, based at the Centre for Wildlife Gardening in East Dulwich, South London. I met them for a superb walk of the site, held in glorious spring-like conditions.

Starting from the car park, a male Kestrel obligingly posed for photos atop a telegraph pole before flying off. Conoco pool…

150 lapwing were roosting on Black Barn Pool. At Cliffe the highlight was the number of waders feeding on the new sand bank in Flamingo. Curlew, black-tailed godwit, greenshank, redshank, shelduck, BH gull, GBB gull, with lapwing, egrets and a heron.

200 avocet were reported by another visitor. A fine male marsh harrier and a female were also seen. Green sandpiper along the back road.

There were about 40 little grebe…

A visit to check on the progress of the latest dredge campaign was enlivened by the wader spectacle on offer. Vast numbers of waders had our pulses racing; 1500+ dunlin, 100+ black-tailed godwit, 500+ avocet, along with good numbers of redshank, grey plover, ringed plover, bar-tailed godwit and topped-off with a handsome adult yellow-legged gull. Suddenly a serene picture was put into turmoil as every last bird took to…

The Gravesend Local Group paid a visit to Cliffe Pools on Saturday, and here is their trip report with sightings: Gravesend Local Group trip report

Paul Larkin was also at Cliffe on Saturday, and his hightlight was a cock Bullfinch.

On Sunday, Bruce and Helen Kirk visited the site and reported Green Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Ruff(2), Dunlin, Black Tailed Godwit, and Knot in substantial numbers.

Thanks to all for…

I've got another picture from Peter Beckenham, resident volunteer at Northward Hill:

thanks Peter!

On Sunday 16th October, Paul Larkin found a superb adult male Isabelline Shrike along the south side of the Alpha marshes, only the 6th record for Kent. The bird attracted much attention and could be viewed from the public footpath leading out to Cliffe Creek from the RSPB car park. The bird favoured bramble clumps along one of the narrow ditches. The bird was still present yesterday (17th October), but we've had no reports…

Jason Anderson has sent me this report of his trip to Cliffe Pools:

Trip to Cliffe on morning of Sunday 2^nd October @ low tide (highlights and counts): 

Passerine migrants

Lesser Whitethroat: 1 (bushes west of Elf Pool)
Whinchat: 1 (near Black Barn)
Chiff Chaff: 1 (singing!)
Blackcap: 2 

Waders

Ruff: 2 on Black Barn; 1 on Radar
Green Sandpiper: 1 (reported on drainage canals)
Black-tailed Godwit: 11 on Radar; 4 on Conoco…

Rolf Williams captured these shots of the Harris Hawk seen at Cliffe recently:

Pallid Harrier back at Cliffe last night – roosting in tall grass east of second viewing mound (near tree with balloon stuck in it). Showed briefly several times between 1740-1805 and then stayed down until 1900 when Jenny and I left. Small crowd of birders (7-8) there, expect a few will be back for it at dawn. Juvenile bird so lots of colour, a bit special I think!

Also seen again this morning -it popped up from…

A couple of "mega"  birds were spotted at Cliffe Pools over the weekend:

Andy Millar has sent me this report:

I walked from the car park, over the top of Flamingo, and round passed Black Barn then along the bottom back to the car from 10.30 til 3.15 today. Fairly quiete on the wader front as the tide was out for the best part of the day. However, I saw the following (of interest):

Black-necked Grebe - 1 on Flamingo
Black-tailed Godwit - 54 on Flamingo
Yellow-legged Gull - 1 on the foreshore…

Black Barn Pools:
Ruff 9

Flamingo:
Little Stint 1
Dunlin 30
Curlew Sandpiper 10
Knot 6
Ringed Plover 25
Grey Plover 35
Bar-tailed Godwit 38
Avocet c.300
Wigeon 6
Sand Martin 2

Jason Mitchell, Warden, NKM

Radar:
Spotted Redshank 2 juvs
Greenshank 5
Redshank c.70
Ruff 9
Black-tailed Godwit c.70
Dunlin 1 

Black Barn Pools:
Ruff 6
Curlew Sandpiper 1
Green Sandpiper 1 

Flamingo:
Little Stint 2 juvs
Dunlin 20
Curlew Sandpiper 7
Knot 2
Ringed Plover 20
Grey Plover 88
Bar-tailed Godwit 34
Avocet c.260
Oystercatcher 1
 

Jason Mitchell, Warden, NKM

2 Ospreys were sighted flying over Cliffe today around lunch time. The birds were about 1 hour apart.

Presumably one of them was the same bird seen at Rainham around the same time:
Rainham sighting

I received this sightings report from Iain Darbyshire following his visit to Cliffe Pools today:

The high tide brought good numbers of waders onto the pools today and I managed to see 20 species in total:

Little Stint – 1 juv (Flamingo)
Curlew Sandpiper – 4 juvs (Flamingo, Black Barn)
Dunlin – numerous (Flamingo)
Grey Plover – c. 50 (Flamingo)
Ringed Plover – numerous (Flamingo)
Knot – 2, both…

Jason Anderson has been out and about at Cliffe today, and sent us this report:

An 8-hour visit to Cliffe Pools produced the following highlights:

1 Osprey flying south at 09:15 (seen by two other birders, I missed it!)
2 Curlew Sandpipers (Black Barn)
2 Spotted Redshanks (2 Black Barn)
6-8 Green Sandpipers (both on Black Barn and drainage canals to sea wall)
1 Whimbrel (on Thames at low tide)
2 Wood Sandpipers (seen by…

Cliffe Pools

A combination of high tide and torrential rain meant many birds were seeking shelter on the pools this morning. Little Stint (3) was the standout bird (life tick!); even the torrential rain couldn’t spoil the view of several individuals feeding in the north eastern corner of Radar. A sizeable flock of Godwits here held both Bar-tailed and Black-tailed, along with Redshank, Lapwing and a solitary Ruff.…

It was a good start to the week at Cliffe Pools with strong North-Westerlies keeping things interesting. A Sandwich Tern was spotted taking refuge amongst a large flock of Black-headed Gulls on Flamingo. The same pool also held c200 Avocet, a Common Sandpiper and several Greenshank (one of which was colour-ringed). A brief and very blustery river watch on Monday evening saw good passage of Terns; mainly Common, but the…

the Gravesend local RSPB group paid Cliffe a visit last night for an evening visit. Here is their trip report:

Gravesend RSPB Local Group Cliffe Pools trip report

another report from Murray Orchard:

A quick trip around Cliffe yesterday afternoon (16.15-17.45) produced the following counts on the Black Barn pools:-
 
Avocet 428
Bl/T Godwit 230
Lapwing 242
Com Redshank 113
Ruff 6
Greenshank 1
Curlew Sandpiper 4 ads (BB4)
Little Stint 1 (BB4)
...no Dunlin, yet 71 on 28th
Green Sandpiper 15
Wood Sandpiper 1
Com Sandpiper 1
 
Also the Redstart is still along the road just past the 1st viewing mound…

This was sent through by Murray Orchard today: 

Around the reserve yesterday (28th) on the Black Barn pools were 2 Wood Sandpipers, 12 Green Sandpipers, 238 Bl/T Godwits, 44 Avocets, 3 Ruff, 71 Dunlin, 1 Greenshank and 13 Teal. A juv Com Redstart was again near the 1st viewing mound (the same as the one on 17th?) and I had 2 Peregrines overhead - an adult and a calling juv.

thanks Murray

We've had another sightings report for Sunday, this time from Mike Buckland:

A couple of sightings that might be of interest.

I was at Cliffe for a couple of hours on Sunday lunchtime and saw a juvenile Common Redstart (still scaly plumaged!) and an adult male Whinchat, just along the track past the Black Barn.

On the pools were 25 Dunlin, 13 Green Sands, 1 Common Sand, 1 Spot Red, 2 Greenshank, 2 Grey Plov…

I've just received this report from Jason Anderson who spent 6 hours at Cliffe this morning:

I had a good stint at Cliffe this morning from 6 to 12. Migrants very much in evidence, with over 10 Green Sandpipers on the canals and Black Barn (flying about a lot, so couldn't be sure). A pair of Grey Plovers were a surprise on the westernmost Boatwick/Black Barn Pool. 2 Snipe on Black Barn. Female Marsh Harrier

Conoco
Coot
Black–headed gull
Oystercatcher
Canada goose
Great crested grebe
Herring gull
Lapwing
Lesser black-backed gull

Radar
Little egret
Avocet
Shelduck
Lapwing
Greenshank
Spotted redshank
Mediterranean gull
Redshank
Grey heron

Black Barn
Black-tailed godwit
Redshank
Avocet
Oystercatcher
Common sandpiper
Ruff
Lapwing
Mallard
Reed Warbler

Flamingo
Black-headed gull
Avocet
Oystercatcher
Shelduck

At Cliffe Pools from the first viewing ramp, 1 spotted redshank, 2 greenshank, 3 ruff, 9 LRP, 140 black-tailed godwit, 1 dunlin & 1 common sandpiper. At least 10 southern emerald damselflies along the righthand side of Mead Way (track leading from 2nd ramp to Lower Hope Point) until 5.30pm. Also common & scarce emerald damselflies

Gordon Allison
Warden (NKM)