After the amazing discovery of a 2nd summer female Eleonora's Falcon at Worth Marshes in Kent,Tim,Mark and myself made the long overnight journey to Kent.
On arrival at the site,we grabbed the gear and made it around to where the bird had been seen to go to roost the previous evening,seeing a 2nd calendar year Hobby on the way,perched up on the edge of the wood.
After speaking to a few people present,no one had seen the bird,apart from some sketchy reports at 4.30am which sounded rubbish to me.
The weather to be fair was not really good for hunting Falcons,with a strong wind and cool temperatures,so i decided to go for a walk around the area,just in case the bird had moved.
The only birds seen were 2 noisy Ring-necked Parakeets and there was also no sign of the Female Red-footed Falcon from previous days either....this was not looking good!.
A few more hours of standing around scanning and the weather began to break at last with a few sunny periods and this had the desired affect with at least 5 Hobbies beginning to hunt catching several dragonflies,but still no sign of the target bird.
All of a sudden a young lad came running over to where we were and he said he had just had the Eleonora's,a quick look on his camera and sure enough it was.
A bit of panic ensued and then the bird appeared over Great Wood infront of us and it was it!.....thank christ for that!
The Falcon then disappeared behind the wood and then after about 5 mins,it was above the wood again and i enjoyed some really good scope views as it caught some flying insects,most probably emerging Damselflies.
The birds larger size than Hobby,longer scythe like wings and long tail being all apparant along with the streaked underparts and buffish wash being visible.It looked like a Hobby on steroids,intermediate in size between Hobby and Peregrine for me.
We watched it for perhaps 15 minutes,before it all of a sudden got chased by a Carrion Crow and it disappeared towards the car park area and it wasn't seen again!.
We were so lucky to have connected and the Falcon must have been roosting in the wood out of the wind and waiting for a change in the weather so it could feed before moving on.
After all the excitement of the Falcon,we firstly visited Sandwich Bay and saw Orchid target number one for the day,Lizard Orchid,with literally hundreds being seen.
Also here were several Clove-scented Broomrape,which are incredibly rare and they really did smell like Cloves.
After our visit to Sandwich,we then travelled over to Parkgate Down along some very dodgy single track lanes it has to be said.
This was an amazing site for Orchids,with us seeing Lady,Monkey,Fly,Chalk Fragrant,Greater Butterfly,Common Spotted and Common Twayblade.
The Lady Orchid was a fine specimen and a new species for me.
A big thank you must go to Tim for another expert drive,particularly up to Parkgate Down & another big thank you to Tony Davison for allowing the use of his amazing images of the bird.
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| 2nd Summer Female Eleonora's Falcon,Worth Marshes,Photo Courtesy Of Tony Davison. |
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| 2nd Summer Female Eleonora's Falcon,Worth Marshes,Photo Courtesy Of Tony Davison. |
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| 2nd Summer Female Eleonora's Falcon,Worth Marshes,Photo Courtesy Of Tony Davison. |
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| Lizard Orchid,Sandwich Bay. |
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| Clove Scented Broomrape,Sandwich Bay. |
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| Greater Butterfly Orchid,Parkgate Down. |
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| Monkey Orchid,Parkgate Down. |
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| Lady Orchid,Parkgate Down,What A Stunning Species. |
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| Chalk Fragrant Orchid,Parkgate Down. |
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| Fly Orchid,Parkgate Down. |
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| Common-spotted Orchid,Parkgate Down. |
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| Parkgate Down,A Lovely Site. |
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