LAST LATE NIGHT FOR 2008.

Thursday, 11th September 2008.

How this year seems to have so quickly passed us by! It does not seem all that long ago since the Late Opening evenings were being greeted by the little band of ‘regulars’ that we seem to have the good fortune to meet every week. Although we have not used the bar-b-que area much this year, we really appreciate being able to access the rest of the site for hours after work!

YOUNG SWANS, THE ENTRANCE LAKE

Photo: Reg Norman

Both Leon and I were hoping for something a little ‘special’ this evening, just to mark the end of this particular set of ‘lates’. We were, of course, to be disappointed!Things didn’t look to good when we arrived at the site; there were about ten thousand young kids all lined up and ready to descend, like screeching Harpies, upon the poor, unsuspecting, birdwatching fraternity. Not taking any chances, we elbowed our way to the front, Leon was particularly swift with a few well-placed kicks to the shins and we were in!

NO BIRDS? ACT CASUAL!

Photo: Reg Norman

After getting kitted up in the Observatory we made our way to the Wildside area. There seemed to be absolutely no birds whatsoever in any of the trees. The whole area was deafeningly quiet! No little shapes could be seen to-ing and fro-ing amongst the foliage. There was even a distinct shortage of waterfowl as we scanned the small ponds in the area. Once again we remarked upon the number of flowers that were still to be seen as we made our way around. This was to be true of all the areas that we were to visit today. We eventually reached the Wildside hide, got ourselves comfortable in our usual seats, and settled down for some intense scrutiny of the Grazing Marsh. The whole of this area was now covered in lush grass with some brilliant splashes of colour dotted here and there.

ONE OF THE FEW!

Photo: Reg Norman

There were not many different species of birds to be seen so the session turned into one of observing individuals as they went about their daily business. I quite like this sort of ‘birding’ and once spent several hours, in the dead of winter, watching Coots and their interminable battles.

A LUSH GRAZING MARSH

Photo: Reg Norman

‘There it goes!’ cried Leon. He was right, it had gone! He had just seen a Hobby go careering past the window of the hide; missed by me because I had my bins pointed elsewhere and was too slow to react! ‘It was beautiful!’ he said. I am sure it was.

A VIEW FROM HEADLEY HIDE

Photo: Reg Norman

At this point we were joined a party of about twenty of the young children that we had seen earlier and I feared that my afternoon was about to be ruined with screeching and banging. There was no screeching and banging; in fact Leon controlled his temper very well! It was just as well because you could not have had a more considerate bunch of youngsters; they were extremely well behaved, and, they all spoke Spanish!We moved on, stopping at the Headley hide briefly, making our way to the restaurant, as Leon was hungry. The areas that we were able to see from the Headley hide were almost devoid of birds, although the site looked beautiful bathed in the late afternoon sunshine. I noticed that the Kingfisher bank was all but invisible behind lush vegetation. I wondered if they would be clearing it for next year?

THE KINGFISHER BANK. HONEST!

Photo: Reg Norman

Everywhere that we went now there were groups of impeccably behaved children, amazingly they all spoke Spanish as well!
Moving through ‘Waterlife’ it was the same story as for the rest of the site, almost devoid of any bird noises or small movements among the shrubs and bushes. Leon commented that he thought that this was probably the quietest day that he could remember at Barnes. I had to agree with him. Still, it was lovely walking around on such a beautiful day.There was something amusing as we passed the bird feeders; a Heron was perched on the top of one of them! It looked so out of place even though it was a bird on a feeder. It brought a smile to our faces, there seemed to be no birds in places that they should be, and, a bird where it shouldn’t be!

SEED LOVING HERON?

Photo: Leon Rusk

The walk around the Sheltered Lagoon was disappointing; usually you could count on seeing many small birds in this area but today there was next to nothing! As we finished our walk, near the Wader Scrape hide, we caught up with one of our friends. Thereze is the wife of John the chap that we have started visiting places with. This lady has a good knowledge of all things natural (she had been studying a very large slug as we approached) and it is always a pleasure to chat with her. We discussed the lack of any real sign of birds to which she wholly agreed although she did point out that there seemed to be a Tit flock in the area.

THE GHOSTLY QUIET LAGOON WALK

Photo: Reg Norman

Our friend moved off, to meet John in the Peacock Tower, and Leon and I made tracks for the ‘Scrape hide. The Tit flock appeared to be approaching at quite a speed as their sounds started to fill the air. We estimated that there were at least seventy birds in the flock, not only the Tits but Warblers and Finches as well! They were like a small cloud moving through the vegetation, all intent on having a good time or so it appeared! My favourites, as usual, were the Long Tails; I never tire of watching them because they always seem to be full of the love of life. We watched for what seemed like ages and loved every minute of it, probably appreciating the sight more for the lack of anything earlier on. We had tried to call Thereze to see the birds but she was already gone. To cap it all, whilst we were watching the birds a young fox had crept up behind us; she missed that as well! After a quick visit to the ‘Scrape hide we moved on to the Peacock Tower.

ONE OF THE YOUNG FOXES

Photo; Reg Norman

We were pleased to meet up with John once again and were also glad to see that another friend of ours, Philip, was also there for the last late day. We told our friend what she had missed and she motioned us to look towards the Sand Martin Bank where we could see a young fox sitting in, and enjoying, the sunshine!Although, once again, there was not a great deal to be seen, we stayed for quite a time enjoying the company. There were, in fact, quite a few ‘birders’ in the hide and they all seemed to be determined to make this last ‘late’ a good one. Many ‘birding’ stories were being swapped and, generally, a good time was had by all. As the light faded people started to drift away; as we left Leon reminded us that it was this day, last year, that we had stood outside the Peacock tower and watched a family of Hobbies chasing Sand Martins! It seemed like that happened only a few weeks ago!

THE GANG

Photo: Reg Norman

The bar-b-que appeared to be doing a good trade as we left; Leon and I were going to the ‘office’ and most of the others made their way into the restaurant for a well-earned cuppa! We said our ‘goodbyes’ and ‘hope to see each other soons’ although in our case it would only be a couple of days as we had made arrangements to go to Dungeness and its’ surrounding areas with John next Sunday!

SOME PEOPLE HAVE NO RESPECT!

Photo; Reg Norman

The ‘office’ was warm and welcoming, as usual, and we stayed for a while reminiscing and planning. A lot of our time seems to be like that, well spent.

OFFICE FLOWERS

Photo: Reg Norman

BIRDS SEEN: Canada Goose, Shoveller, Tufted Duck, Ruddy Duck, Mallard, Feral Pigeon, Cormorant, Lapwing, Gadwall, Coot, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Egyptian Goose, Little Grebe, Magpie, Hobby, Starling, Wood Pigeon, Carrion Crow, Heron, Jackdaw, House Sparrow, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Ring Necked Parakeet, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Greenfinch, Lesser Whitethroat, Sand Martin, Teal, Ruff, Swallow, Great Crested Grebe, Black Headed Gull, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Herring Gull, House Martin, Green Woodpecker, Redshank.