Medway WeBS and an unusual visitor

Medway and Darnet Fort from Hoo Industrial Park

I did my January WeBS count yesterday morning when conditions were thankfully a lot better than they were in the afternoon! With some low cloud obscuring the Kingsnorth chimney at first, by mid-morning the sky was clear and bright over the Medway. The results are largely similar to December's although I think the tide must have been slightly lower today as little could be seen in the creeks stretching across the mud. Occasionally small flocks of redshanks and Dunlin appeared, only to sink out of sight immediately. Brent geese were present in good number and Teal numbers were up slightly.

Totals for 3 sectors (Hoo Flats):

Mute Swan 2
Dark-bellied Brent Goose 111
Shelduck 190
Teal 330
Pintail 5
Cormorant 9
Little Egret 1
Great Crested Grebe 1
Oystercatcher 113
Grey Plover 6
Lapwing 25
Dunlin (present)
Curlew 26
Redshank c20
Gulls (5 species present)

Before the count, I walked around the sea wall as far as the marsh by the power station where a flock of 150 Brent geese and 50 Greylag geese were gathered - some of the former departing for the flats shortly after. Passerines of note included Song Thrush, 2-3 Linnet and 6 Meadow Pipit. A flock of 75 Fieldfare were present in the adjacent fields and a Cetti's Warbler gave a short blast from a small reedbed. The most surprising sighting of the morning though was undoubtedly this beast:

Yee Haw!

While I was sifting through a line of hazy shapes out on the mud, I started becoming aware of alarm calls behind me. After a minute, with it still going on, I turned around and saw this perched up in some scrub about 30ft away! My head was scrambled for a second thinking 'that's a bloody weird Buzzard' until I realised it seemed to be a Harris's Hawk, a non-native raptor more commonly found in southern USA and Central America. It just shows you never know what's going to turn up! Harris hawks are one of the most popular birds for falconers in Britain and sightings of escapes are not unheard of. This bird had clear rings on both feet (but no jesses) and appeared to be quite agitated. After a minute it flew off low into some scrub and I didn't see it again. Still, a stunning bird regardless of origins.