Jack Snipe, Black-necked Grebe and Smew

Phew what a title, but for me three great birds that deserve equal billing. The product of two days unashamed tick and photograph hunting. Jack Snipe has been top of both our lists for some time, a bird that I have seen before but never had the opportunity to photograph. Martin had been tracking this bird for some weeks and today was the right time to venture up to a most incongruous venue. The Greenwich Peninsular Ecology Park lies adjacent to the Thames and has to be the most unlikely place to find a Jack Snipe. The park is a small wetlands oasis in the middle of huge residential and industrial development. Anyway, we arrived just after opening time and the volunteers made sure that we were in the right hide. 

Scanning the reeds and bank resulted in a blank  and we sat down in preparation for a long wait. Presently one of the wardens arrived and asked "Have you seen it yet?" - three birders stared back and shook their heads. He then opened a side window, thrust out a finger and indicated the position of the subject. Now, I have pretty good eyesight for my age  yet I couldn't discern anything that looked remotely like a snipe, until I put my bins up and the best camouflaged bird that I have ever seen sprang into vision - binoculars down and yet again I could see nothing. Bear in mind that the bird was probably no more than fifteen feet from the end of my nose.

A queue formed and we took turns to record the bird in various poses, mostly of a sleeping and bobbing nature. Unfortunately at no time did the bird emerge from cover, even the close attention of a Water Rail failed to flush it to a more open location.

Some idea of how the reserve is located.

A "bijou" hide

Next tick was the easiest, the Black-necked Grebe at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, information gleaned at the visitor centre was spot on and we found the bird without effort. A tad distant but recorded for posterity.

The Smew were a result of the previous day's trip to Dungeness,  a venue we visit regularly to get the year list off to a good start. Targets for the day included the long staying Long-eared Owl by the dipping pond, unfortunately a no show, probably due to the very keen westerly winds that were chilling anything that ventured forth. At Scott hide we located the Smew but they didn't hang around long, being spooked by other wildfowl and decamping to the lake in front of Christmas Dell hide, where they remained at a fair distance.

On the way home we gave Horse Bones Farm, Scotney Pits and Pett Level the once over but failed to find any of the reported highlights. I think the westerly which was gathering sufficient strength to deter all but the keenest birder had something to do with it.

Final venue was Horse Eye Level at dusk, looking for any unusual raptor or perhaps even an owl. Sadly nothing save a perched Kestrel and a pair of squabbling Buzzards, one very pale juvenile had us puzzled for a while. The record shots of which were taken in appalling light.

La Brenne - Premier jour

 Last year I decided that I could squeeze in a visit to La Brenne in France, often called the "Land of a Thousand Lakes" - well that is a bit of a misnomer. Depending on who you talk to there are between one to three thousand etangs or ponds and considerably more if you count the minor waterbodies. It isn't all water, the area has a range of habitats which include marsh  deciduous woods, dry heathland and farmland which provide a full range of wildlife. So, centred at Mézières en Brenne, I enjoyed six great days of birds, butterflies, dragonflies and orchids. Temperatures were up and wall to wall sunshine was the order of the day.

What follows is my photographic diary - more of a chronological report - which seems easier than sorting out the species, it also highlights the variety, you never know what you will come across just round the next corner.

The journey out was a first for me, Eurostar to Lille and TGV to Poitiers where we were picked up by our guide for the final leg. Refreshing to travel by rail than the struggle of the airlines.

Day one dawned bright and sunny and we set off in eager anticipation.

Étang de la Sous

 First up was a visit to Etang de la Sous, the flagship of the reserve and extremely popular - the car park was well occupied by the time we arrived. Also, French birding photographers have a knack of occupying a whole window of the hide and it was difficult to get a view of the lake. Mind you, by the end of the week I had perfected this technique.

In front of the hide were Black-necked Grebes, Whiskered Terns, Red-crested Pochard and Little Grebes.

 

 

 The breeding Whiskered Terns were some distance away, they build a nest on top of the Water Lily pads - a bit precarious but obviously successful.

Returning to the car park gave close views of a noisy Nightingale, the distant sound of a Turtle Dove and our first Dragonflies and Butterflies.



Broad-bodied Chaser

Black-tailed Skimmer (f)

My first record of the ubiquitous Black-veined White.

 

An obliging Wall

 A steady start but not the views that I was expecting. However, Jason, the tour leader promised us a return when things would not be so busy.

Terre de Renard

A leisurely walk alongside a pair of etangs demonstrated the range of wildlife.




Green-veined White - the only of the tour.

  

A sociable European Wall Lizard...

...showing some nice blue spots on the belly.

 

 Not much of a photograph I know, but a life tick for me. The Lilypad Whiteface or the Dainty White-faced Darter, Leuccorhinia caudalis.

Lilypad Whiteface

The absolutely stunning Southern White Admiral, the underwing views are just as good, unfortunately in the heat of the day this one did not oblige.

Just after recording the SWA we heard the unmistakeable song of a Golden Oriole, we were directly under the bird but try as we might could not get a view. I only managed a glimpse as the bird relocated, at least enough to know what it was.


Obviously, with this amount of water, frogs were seen and heard everywhere.

 

Pool frog

White-tailed Skimmer - another lifer.

    

 A pair of Downy Emeralds

  

Maison de Parc

 Time for a picnic lunch at the Maison de Parc, the adjacent etang had shrunk considerably which provided access to mud for a large army of House Martins. Dragons and Damsels were in short supply and a concerted search for a Dainty Damselfly drew a blank but I did manage to record a Small Spreadwing, Lestes numidicus ssp virens. Lurking in the pondside vegetation was what appears to be a Speckled Bush Cricket

 

 Rosnay Common

I wasn't quite ready for Rosnay Common, back home a search for orchids would normally result in a few specimens, here there are an estimated 250,000 Tongue Orchids, an absolute sea of them. I didn't count them.

Huge numbers

 

A bonus! A dragon on an orchid - Red-veined Darter (f)

 

Greater Butterfly Orchids were just starting to flower.

 

Lax-flowered Orchids in large numbers too

We found Marsh, Knapweed and Spotted Fritillaries, Grizzled and Dingy Skipper and the odd Common Blue.

 

 

 

 

 

Black-veined Moth
 

After that we drew stumps around 1700, the temperature had risen to around 26C and it was time for an ice cold beer