Cliffe Pools and Some Local Stuff

During the week-long holiday in February, there isn't always masses to do except looking for local stuff around the Colne Valley, which is what I did for most of it. However, I always try to organise more long-distance trips over holidays, so, on the Wednesday, I decided to head to Cliffe Pools in Kent, hoping for waders and, importantly, the many grebe species they had recently had.

I got up early to begin the train journey to Cliffe, not too bad, but still too long to do regularly. I arrived at a a place which was different from what I expected, and began to scan the first pool. There was a Little Grebe, many Mediterranean Gulls, and some waders such as Redshank, Lapwing and Golden Plover.

The pools had the same range of species on them, but one had a pair of Goldeneye, and someone told me they had a Spoonbill on one, before it had been scared off by a raptor.

I spent the next couple of hours wandering around random paths, trying to find the Alpha Pool, with no luck, seeing nothing but a Marsh Harrier, and constantly thinking I'd found the right path until I realised it was a construction site, or an overgrown path that led nowhere. However, I eventually found the correct path and reached the Alpha Pool, where there were dozens of Teal on the Thames, and a couple dozen Grebes on the pool.

Red-Necked Grebe

Most were Little Grebes, with a few Great Crested Grebes mixed in. I scanned but could find nothing else, until I noticed a Grebe closer than the rest, which was immediately recognisable as a Red-Necked Grebe - my first lifer of 2019. It showed well - better than most of the other Grebes, but was unfortunately swimming away.

I scanned for more birds, and found the flock of four Black-Necked Grebes, more distant than the Red-Necked Grebe, and not the best view I have ever had. But these were amazing views compared to what I had of the Slavonian, right at the other end of the pool, which was so far away that it was barely visible in the scope.

For many of the other days of the holiday, I stayed local, visiting Stocker's Lake to look for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, but had no success. However, there were Treecreepers, Siskins and displaying Goldeneye.

 I also visited Broadwater with Kabir while he was doing the his WeBS survey, where we saw many species of wildfowl, including Goldeneye, and some other birds such as large flocks of Siskins.

Treecreeper

However, the best bird of the holiday was probably in Wendover Woods, where I had planned to spend all day looking for Crossbills. I thought it would take all day to find them, so I didn't expect to hear them calling from the car park when I opened the car door - before I had even got out!

I took the scope out and managed to find an adult male Crossbill on top of a pine tree, and had good views in great light (for once). Meanwhile, one was singing from deeper in the woods, and they were constantly calling.

Since I had seen my target so early, I decided to visit College Lake briefly, mostly to see what it was like. It looks like a good reserve, but is far from local, so I'll only visit occasionally. On this visit I managed to see my first inland Oystercatcher of the year.