Swanscombe Part 5 - April

Its been an absolutely bumper month this time around, totalling 68 species, with 13 new sightings as most of the summer migrants start to appear and make themselves known. Up to 91 for the year now on site, there are a few more expected ticks but now it's more about hoping for some passage madness to see what else can be found

All the expected Warblers (8 different species so far!) are singing from literally every conceivable location, particularly the Cettis. Although a year round resident, it seems their numbers have been boosted, you literally can't walk 10 metres before the next one starts calling! Along with the warblers, I've had Cuckoo and Nightingale in the scrub around Botany. It will be interesting to see if the cuckoos hang around, last year i only heard them once all year, although I imagine that's just my bad luck!

A group of Sand Martins can be seen each night feeding over Black Duck Reedbed, and it surely won't be long until the rest of the Hirundines follow to nest on the nearby Ingress Park flats, along with the predatory Hobbies chasing them over the marshes. I've not had Sand Martin here before, and they're incredibly hard to photo on the wing, so you'll have to ignore the terrible record shot 😂

Breeding is also well underway, with the first Greylag goslings being sighted on the scrape at Botany Marsh, and a pair of Pochard are becoming more obvious, fingers crossed they mate successfully! 

I also spotted a female Sparrowhawk drifting over at the end of the month, I'm expecting to see her more regularly as her passerine prey gets more and more active during peak season.

It's been a strange month for waders, with most of the wintering species gone, including the unseasonal Common Sand which I haven't picked up for a while now. Green Sand and Snipe are still hanging on on the grazing marsh and scrape, and I was treated to some close range views of a feeding Black Tailed Godwit on the Thames Foreshore, looking resplendent in his breeding plumage

The Reptiles are becoming way more obvious now too, instead of fleeting sightings as per last month I'm practically tripping over Lizards right now, and the Grass Snakes are a lot more active. I'm hoping to get some hunting footage as they move in and out of the reeds tailing the vocal Marsh Frogs, but who knows if I'll pull that off!

Things are shaping up nicely for a busy breeding season, it's going to be great to watch the adults busy on feeding flights and the fledglings making their first forays into the big wide world. There are still a few migrants to arrive and it will be interesting to see who stays and who just passes through. Let's see what May brings 😁

April Full List

Woodpigeon

Collared Dove

Feral Dove

Stock Dove

Jackdaw

Carrion Crow

Magpie

Rook

Raven

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Bearded Tit 

Goldfinch

Chaffinch

Greenfinch

House Sparrow 

Reed Bunting 

Starling

Dunnock

Meadow Pipit 

Robin

Stonechat

Nightingale

Blackbird

Song Thrush 

Cetti's Warbler

Chiffchaff 

Blackcap

Reed Warbler

Sedge Warbler 

Grasshopper Warbler

Common Whitethroat 

Lesser Whitethroat 

Pied Wagtail

Cuckoo 

Green Woodpecker 

Pheasant

Sand Martin

Black Headed Gull 

Herring Gull

LBBG 

Cormorant

Common Snipe

Green Sandpiper (Botany Scrape)

Oystercatcher 

Black Tailed Godwit (Feeding on Foreshore)

Mallard

Teal

Gadwall

Pochard 

Shoveller 

Tufted Duck 

Shelduck

Canada Goose 

Greylag Goose

Egyptian Goose 

Mute Swan 

Little Grebe 

Moorhen

Coot

Water Rail

Grey Heron

Little Egret 

Buzzard

Marsh Harrier

Sparrowhawk

Kestrel

Peregrine

Total 68

Running Total 91