Margate Cemetery Birder

Sunday 31st July

Due to other commitments I was a bit late out today, I didn't start until midday and finished off at 2pm, the best highlights was a female Peregrine west at 12:30pm, 2 Blackcaps, 8 Whitethroats, 3 Yellow Wagtails and 15 Swallows. There was also 6 Hares and lots of Meadow Browns, Red Admirals and Large White Butterflies.

Saturday 30th July

I was out today from 5:35 - 8:00am, and recorded 1 juvenile Cuckoo, 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 3 Willow Warblers, 5 Blackcaps, 4 Swallows, 29 Ring-necked Parakeets, 2 Kestrels, 20 Linnets, 4 Green Woodpeckers, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1 Pied Wagtail, 2 Rooks, 1 Goldfinch and 3 Jays.

Wednesday 27th July

Today was very quiet best of the bunch was a juvenile Cuckoo, also 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Willow Warblers, 12 Whitethroats, 2 Blackcaps, 4 Swallows, 4 Sparrowhawks, 1 Grey Heron west, 7 Green Woodpeckers, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 20 Linnets, 20 Ring-necked Parakeets and 4 Long-tailed Tits.

Monday 25th July

I was out and about at 5:30am, and it was quite an interesting morning, 1 Garden Warbler was an early surprise in the allotments followed soon after by 4 Willow Warblers and 2 Lesser Whitethroats, others noted were 6 Blackcaps, 13 Whitethroats, 63 Ring-necked Parakeets, 3 Green Woodpeckers, 20 Linnets, 4 Swallows and 2 Pied Wagtails but the nicest surprise was in the garden of rest when a total of 50 birds came out of the same small tree which included 6 different species these were 32 Long-tailed Tits, 1 Whitethroat, 1 Chiffchaff, 2 Willow Warblers, 9 Great Tits and 5 Blue Tits.

Sunday 24th July

I covered the patch this afternoon from 2:10 - 3:45pm, which produced a good autumn record of a juvenile Cuckoo, once this bird was fairly common here but has certainly declined especially the autumn records over the last few years, also noted was 5 Sand Martins west, 1 Blackcap, 3 Whitethroats, 3 Yellow Wagtails, 4 House Martins, 3 Pied Wagtails and 45 Linnets.

Saturday 23rd July

Best highlight today was a Common Buzzard which headed west at the early time of 7am.

Thursday 21st July

Just dont mess with a Sparrowhawk

Today once again was another interesting spell of birding, I managed to cover the cemo for most of the morning which turned out to be quite successful, it started off well with 3 Crossbills heading west over the cemo, followed soon after by the first of 2 returning juvenile Willow Warblers, but more surprising was the finding of a Pied Flycatcher (by far my earliest record for the cemo) which was seen in the crematorium, but it didn't end there as nearby a problem was evolving between a Jay and an adult female Sparrowhawk both of which were harassing each other for a good 5 minutes, but at the end a certain bird had certainly had enough and there was only ever going to be one winner, this Jay shown in the picture was the unfortunate victim and no doubt the hunter will return to properly finish it off, horrible to see but I suppose its nature. Away from that incident other bits noted on the patch included 23 Whitethroats, 1 Blackcap, 4 Sparrowhawks, 50 Swifts, 30 Swallows, 4 House Martins, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 6 Pied Wagtails, 1 Chaffinch (Good record for July), 19 Grey Partridges, 1 Corn Bunting, 40 Linnets, 300 Black-headed Gulls, 7 Skylarks, 1 Kestrel, 2 Green Woodpeckers and 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Wednesday 20th July (A CRAZY CRAZY SIGHTING)

Grey Heron 1 of 64 (an incredible encounter)

Today I arrived on the patch at 10:15am after putting the car in for a full service, at 10:30am, I started to wander over towards the paddocks when all of a sudden loads and loads of gulls went completely mad, at the time I was on the blind side but when in the right position I couldn't quite believe what I was going to witness, first of all there was 32 birds, followed shortly after (5 seconds in fact) by another 32 birds, yes in total 64 Grey Herons were seen heading slowly north/west over the paddocks, I was so shocked at this sighting I nearly dropped all my equipment, in all my 20 odd years recording this place I have never managed anywhere near a total like this in fact my best in one go is 8 birds, this total is crazy, yes juvenile birds do move at this time of year including continental birds but surely no where in these numbers, I was so taken back I contacted Chris Hindle to see if he could find out any information regarding past records in kent, and between him and Andrew Henderson (many thanks) their are not to many in that shape or form (well migratory anyway), some large numbers have been recorded in other counties but generally on nature reserves, it was certainly very interesting reading the e-mail from Andrew on past records in Kent. I had to leave by 11:15am to pick up my Daughter but to go with this was a nice total of 7 adult summer Mediterranean Gulls feeding in ploughed fields alongside 900+ Black-headed Gulls also by the paddocks, other bits noted was 2 Yellow Wagtails and 2 Whitethroats. Thanks Warren for the nice comments, don't worry you will get Crossbill one day, an early early morning visit would be advisable for these birds especially now (a good month) and through the autumn. Good Luck Mate.

Tuesday 19th July

Dave Gilbert mainly covered the patch today and recorded 21 Whitethroats, 22 Long-tailed Tits, 4 Blackcaps, 1 Chiffchaff, 50 Swifts, 1 Sparrowhawk and 100 Black-headed Gulls, at 6:30pm, I recorded 7 very low flying Common Terns heading north over the paddocks.

Monday 11th July

Many thanks Warren for the advise on trying to solve some of my current blogger problems, unfortunately I have tried unclicking the signed in box but like in the past has not made any difference, I had some bloggers e-mail me about similar problems they have also had re loss of followers and spacing etc, and have stated what a complete nightmare it is to try and fix some have actually given up, but I will continue digging deep and you never know I might hear from blogger one day. Anyway today I was out and about on the patch for the first time in 3 weeks, it actually feels strange being back after a short break which was needed I must admit, I had a few hours covering most of the areas which produced 2 Crossbills east at 9:50am also 5 Yellow Wagtails, 21 Whitethroats, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Blackcaps, 2 Chiffchaffs, 300 Swifts, 10 Swallows, 2 House Martins, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Lapwing, 10 Linnets, 1 Pied Wagtail, 2 Green Woodpeckers, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker and 39 Black-headed Gulls.

Thursday 7th July (SOME HOME GARDEN BIRDS)

It's been a very interesting last couple of weeks, me and the family planned a 5 night stay in Great Yarmouth Norfolk, but loved it so much we decided to stay a few more, we have been here before but its such a lovely county with a superb seafront and local attractions we just didn't want to leave, in fact take note the useless Council of Margate and take a trip up here you might all learn something on how to build and run a successful seaside town, of which many years ago Margate once had, and still can if placed in the proper hands, in fact up there they actually listen to the locals in what they actually want, more than I can say down here where its just destruction etc etc, where old past local history/sites seems to mean nothing. Anyway back down to earth I will shortly be out and about to the cemo and beyond with autumn just around the corner I certainly cannot wait, Dave Gilbert has covered the patch whilst I've been away and has had some interesting sightings of which I will display later. At present I still have the blogger problems but that's sometimes the case with a free site who cares once it goes wrong blogger wont after all we don't pay for it so why a quick mend!!, if it gets that bad I will go over to a new organised paid site, no I wont give up the Margate Cemo sightings, but may have to start again. I will settle down for a couple of days rest then back out so today I have posted some of my garden birds seen from the front window including Chaffinch, Starling, House Sparrows (one with no tail), Greenfinch and Dunnock but even better was a lovely adult summer Mediterranean Gull which headed east over the house late morning.