Swanscombe Part 2 - January

A few visits this month to kick things off. Not really many surprises, but disappointed to miss the Spoonbill reported on Twitter around the turn of the year, along with a Great White Egret in late December.

Still, a couple of nice birds including Siskin and Short Eared Owl, and a Green Sandpiper along the Thames foreshore, totalling 63 species.

A couple of surprising omissions, the Winter Thrushes (Redwing, Fieldfare) were conspicuous by their absence. This time last year the huge influx over winter was just starting to die down and disperse, but they were still readily seen, not so this time with just a couple of solitary Redwing. Perhaps their preffered berries did not bloom as expected and so were on different sites following their food sources.

Oddly, I only saw the Marsh Harriers on one trip, they're usually always seen above Black Duck Marsh and the surround, not quite sure what the reason here is other than plain bad luck! Canada Geese were another species I expected to find but didn't.

One thing I didn't expect was the change in Botany Grazing Marsh. This has usually been an open field with scattered ponds, bordered by scrub, but the reeds have really grown up around the whole area, with just a few patches of grass available. This has made it harder to spot the geese and waders (etc), but has meant I've seen the Bearded Tits in a new area of the site. It does look a haven for things like Jack Snipe, but the chances of spotting them on this patch from the vantage points are essentially zero without thermal optics.

The month was rounded off with a fantastic day out for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, with over 60 people joining for a walk round the marshes, great company and a tonne of great birds spotted! It's wonderful to see such support against the looming threat of the London Resort development. The campaign to save the area has gained some serious traction, and the local (and not so local) voices arr really making a difference, thanks in no small part to the efforts of Donna and co!

January Full List

Anything that strikes me as odd (eg an irregular sighting, single record of species etc) I've made a note of where they were picked up. More regular species on site are simply listed, I'll do the same on subsequent months.

Woodpigeon 

Feral Dove

Collared Dove

Magpie

Jackdaw

Jay

Carrion Crow

Raven

Pheasant

Linnet

Chaffinch

Goldfinch

Greenfinch

Siskin (flyover and brief pause in copse on coastal path)

Skylark

Reed Bunting 

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Bearded Tit

Blackbird

Redwing 

Mistle Thrush

Starling

Robin

Stonechat 

Wren

Meadow Pipit

Cettis Warbler

Blackcap

Teal

Pintail (once on Thames)

Wigeon

Mallard

Gadwall

Shoveller

Shelduck 

Egyptian Goose (pair on Botany)

Brent Goose

Greylag Goose

Mute Swan

Coot

Moorhen

Water Rail

Little Grebe 

GC Grebe

Grey Heron

Little Egret

Common Snipe (feeding on Botany pools)

Green Sandpiper (dotting along Thames foreshore)

Common Sandpiper

Common Redshank

Lapwing

Cormorant 

Black Headed Gull 

Herring Gull 

Common Gull

GBB Gull

LBB Gull

Peregrine

Kestrel

Common Buzzard

Marsh Harrier

SEO

Total 63

Swanscombe Part 1 - The Plan

So I wanted to try something new this year, the idea is to bird Swanscombe marshes at least a couple of times a month and record everything seen, and by the end of the year produce a picture of when the area is at peak numbers, what species turn up, when they arrive etc etc. 

I imagine it'll be fairly obvious as to what birds are resident, seasonal etc but you never know what may turn up and hopefully there'll be a few surprises along the way.

I'm looking to cover everything in the highlighted area, including Botany and Black Duck Marsh, and onto the river where its possible to view. The variety of habitat here attracts a wide range of species to breed, feed and roost, and by going at different times of day I'll hopefully get a few different bits popping up.

I'm not going to record mammals, this will be mainly focused on birds, but I will keep a note on reptiles.  Let's try and get 100 species at least throughout the year!

By no means am I expecting this to be exhaustive, there are far better birders than me who are going to see/hear a lot more than I do, but im hoping to pick up on a few rarities, and definitely piggy-back when I hear of something on Twitter 😂😂

I'm thinking currently I'll post the lists for each month with a kind of round up and any pictures worth sharing, including some scenery to see how it changes with the seasons, and then by this time next year I might have some data to present, and if its any good I'll continue it indefinitely!