There was an adult Little Gull at Shorne Marshes today.

A good variety of birds, although not huge numbers of any particular species. Once again, there were only a couple of species of wader observed.

Radar
Coot 110
Pintail 19
Shelduck 12
Lapwing 330
Wigeon 30
Oystercatcher 2
Pochard 6
Teal 6
Little Grebe 1
Black Headed Gull 4
Tufted Duck 20
Mallard 120
Goldcrest - at least 4 along the track at the edge of Radar that leads to Allen's Pond

Black Barn Pools
Teal 410
Shoveler 200
Greylags…

today we have reports of a Slavonian Grebe on the Flamingo Pool

we have report of a drake and 4 female Scaup on the Flamingo Pool and also an immature male Merlin.

Radar
Coot – 210,
shelduck – 56,
Canada goose – 3,
lapwing – 950,
pintail – 60,
wigeon – 72,
teal – 4,
black headed gull – 50,
tufted duck – 4,
little grebe – 8.

Black Barn Pools
Teal – 340,
shoveler – 220,
wigeon – 10,
coot – 50,
greylag goose – 15,
Canada goose – 1,
shelduck – 32,
gadwall – 16,
pintail – 3…

Radar
Little grebe - 12, coot -300+, lapwing - 1200, greylag goose - 120, tufted duck - 42, shelduck - 26, pintail - 12, pochard - 4, mallard - 27.

Black Barns
Shoveler - 120, teal - 250, coot - 120, gadwall - 40, lapwing - 220, shelduck - 80, wigeon - 200.

Flamingo
Ringed plover - 16, oystercatcher - 2, shoveler - 60, avocet - 1, curlew - 3, dunlin - 4, pochard - 120, mallard - 60, goldeneye - 12, little grebe - 26, great…

It seems such a long time since I have been to the pools, well a couple of weeks at least, so I was very much looking forward to seeing if there had been much change since my last visit. I pulled up as usual in the car park and noted quite a lot of cars and a 25 seater coach. With no clues as to its origins I hoped to bump into whom so ever it had disgorged on, I assumed, a birding visit.

On the car park pool a few Tufted…

Flamingo
Teal - 250, starling - 50, little egret - 1, coot - 200, shoveler - 26, little grebe - 10, goldeneye - 20, pochard - 450, tufted duck - 400, female scaup - 2, greylag - 30, mallard - 150, pintail - 20, great crested grebe - 2, wigeon – 60.

Black Barn
Shoveler - 80, wigeon - 120, gadwall - 45, shelduck - 12, teal - 300, pintail - 2.

Radar
Coot - 200, oystercatcher - 4, tufted duck - 60, lapwing - 200, teal…

There was nothing very exciting in terms of species at Cliffe today, but it was very pleasing to see the islands in Radar where we very recently cut the vegetation, absolutely covered in birds. There were a 1000+ Lapwing, 150 Greylags, 150 Redshank (first time since before Christmas that I have seen more than just a few individual birds) plus Wigeon, Teal, Mallard and a pair of Oystercatchers. There was also a large number…

Radar
Shoveler – 24
Teal – 250
Wigeon – 200
Goldeneye – 15
Greylag – 120
Coot – 130
Little Grebe – 40
Pintail – 40
Lapwing – 240

Flamingo
Teal – 70
Pochard – 50
Tufted duck – 40
Little grebe – 48
Mallard – 60
Shelduck – 30
Goldeneye – 4
Shoveler – 6
Reshank – 40
Coot – 60

Black Barns
Shoveler – 56
Shelduck – 50
Gadwall…

A fairly unexciting outing, possibly due to their being a fairly low tide at the time

Radar
Wigeon
Teal (1000+)
Coot
Pintail
Tufted
Mallard
Greylag Geese
Canada Geese
Dabchick
(All the geese were on the islands which were brush cut during the course of the last 2 weeks)

Flamingo
Teal
Shoveler
Lapwing (500+ flying around but not settling)
Mallard
Tufted
Wigeon
Dabchick

Thames viewpoint
Redshank (up the creek)
Teal             ]
Cormorant  ] all on…

Radar

On and around the newly cut islands there were a lot of the following

Greylag Geese
Teal 300+
Wigeon 500+
Lapwing
Mallard
Shoveler
Shelduck
Coot
Little Grebe
Pintail

Flamingo

Hen Harrier (Female)
Goldeneye x 11
Tufted Duck
Coot
Shoveler
Wigeon
Teal
Little Grebe

Black Barn

Gadwall x 50
Teal
Shoveler
Lapwing

thanks to Dave Sharpe (resident volunteer) for these

Having not managed to get to Cliffe for a couple of weeks it was a delight to drive into the car-park in anticipation of a 6 hour trek through the reserve. As I arrived a Great Spotted Woodpecker landed on a telegraph pole silhouetted against the pretty dull sky, but at least the wind was merely a slight breeze. This made it not only easy on the scope but for the Kestrel hover hunting over the trees.

Not much of note…

Radar
Shelduck
Coot
Lapwing
Pochard
Mallard
Greylag Geese
Canada Geese
Herring Gull

Black Barn Pools
Wigeon (500)
Teal (500)
Shoveler
Lapwing
Shelduck
Mallard
Pintail (100)
Mute Swan

Flamingo
Pochard
Tufted Duck
Wigeon (500)
Teal (2,000)
Mallard

Crystal
Tufted Duck

There were also a large number of Lapwings flying around that didn't seem to want to settle. I'd say about 1,000

thanks Les

These are the sightings from Cliffe Pools today at lunchtime - roughly an hour after high tide. I haven't specified which pools as the birds were moving around a lot, probably as a result of us working down there, but they were essentially in the northern most areas - Radar, Flamingo and the Black Barn pools. There was very little on Conoco and Elf.

Teal 1500+
Widgeon 1500+
Shelduck 100
Shoveller 150
Mallard
Gad…

there were 7 scaup on flamingo pool today.

Conoco
Pochard -12, tufted duck - 8, coot - 24, little grebe – 6

Flamingo
Mallard - 30, lapwing - 25, little grebe -4

Radar
Little grebe - 14, coot 200+, goldeneye – 4

Black barn
Pochard - 24, wigeon - 12, redshank - 2

High tide 16:07

Bright sunny generally a clear blue sky, 4 - 8 centigrade

Sunset 16:11

I had only intended to go to Cliffe Pools for a couple of hours to look at Radar Pool for the Red throated Diver and then a whizz over to Alpha Pool to look (again !!) for the Velvet Scoter and the Eider Duck. So at the car park I looked at the sightings board and was pleased to see the RTD was still about, ( well yesterday anyway…

this morning there was a red-throated diver on the Radar pool along with goldeneye, pintail, wigeon, gadwall and teal. 

Crystal Pool
Coot
Little Grebe
Pochard
Tufted Duck

Flamingo Pool
Coot

Black Barn Pools
Gadwall
Teal
Wigeon x 200
Lapwing x 150
Shoveler
Shelduck
Pintail
Avocet

Radar Pool
Goldeneye
Pochard
Wigeon
Mallard
Little Grebe
Great Crested Grebe
Cormorant
Coot
Lapwing
Redshank

Thanks to Dave Sharpe for these sightings

Finally managed to get out today to do the car park to car park trip round Cliffe Pools, starting at 10:30 and finishing at 16:30, a quick look round the car park and a very pleasing 15 plus vehicles, plenty of eyes to see and report sightings.

As I was preparing to set off, a birder came back having just been to Alpha Pools where he'd seen an Eider Duck and a Velvet Scoter.

So firstly along the Saxon Shore Way…

 Sightings for Cliffe Pools, 4th January 2011

Crystal

Pochard
Tufted Duck
Coot
Dabchick

Flamingo/Radar

Avocet (450+)
Mallard
Pochard
Dabchick (100)
Gadwall
Coot
Lapwing (400)
Dunlin (600+)
Grey Plover
Tufted Duck
Black Tailed Godwit (200)
Wigeon (1000)
Teal
Pintail
Shelduck

Thanks Les

First time out at Cliffe Pools since the 5th of December so Lesley and I took the dog on Monday the 27th between 11:00 and 13:00 the snow was still fairly thick and slippery, because of time constraints we only had a couple of hours so walked along the track with Alpha Pool to our left.

On the fields to the left was a large party of Grey geese, 164 I counted, 40 plus were White Fronted, a lone Canada and a Bean Goose.…

Sightings for Jan 1st:

Radar/Hidden

Hen harrier - 1 ring-tail
Sparrowhawk - 1
Wigeon - 1200+
Teal - 500+
Pintail - 32
Pochard - 170
Goldeneye - 5 (1m)
Tufty - 50
Lapwing - 400+
Greenshank - 1

Flamingo

Velvet scoter - 1f
Scaup - 2 f
Goldeneye - 15 (5m) {+ 4 (1m) on Conoco Pools}
Pochard - 62
Tufty - 58
Little egret - 1

Also - on Alpha Pool (non-reserve):

Velvet scoter - 1f
R-b merganser - 1f
Eider - 1f
Scaup - 6 (2m)
Lesser scaup-like…

The snow and ice has cleared enough to re-open the car park today. Take care on the footpaths as there may still be odd pockets of slush or ice.