Why don't you turn off your mobile phone (and go and do something more local instead?) - December

 > Waders: December sees the start of peak counts for many species, and WeBS counting this month is due to happen on the 19th, which is the end of a neap tide cycle. Most WeBS counts happen on springs, but with such short daylight hours beggars cannot be choosers, so counts away from this date will be useful, especially any around the spring tides.

(General rule of thumb for the Medway, neap high tides are usually early mornings, springs afternoons. More chance of seeing waders close to shore if go first thing. See (6) below..)

> Wildfowl: also settled if conditions remain temperate. Some birders tend to overlook as 'they don't do much', just loafing during daylight hours. A lot of feeding takes place at night. First, last hour of daylight best for higher levels of activity. If tide is also covering/uncovering at the time, all the better.

> Diurnal migration: all over. Birds, generally, are somewhere close to their preferred overwintering site. Time to think of hard weather movements. The trick remains not to get too excited by temperatures alone as most only move if food resource threatened. For estuarine birds this often means snow and ice, and they won't move straight away either. They can sit out two, three days on reserves.
I'm a bit odd, I keep fingers crossed for a lack of such movements. Many individuals just stick to their chosen spot and hope for an improvement in conditions. Why so many waders die in extreme conditions. Sure, we'll see flights of Lapwings, Golden Plovers on the move, but their food is generally available in most fields. More specialist feeders bank on their local knowledge seeing them through.

> Nocturnal migrants: Again, essentially over. Migration from summer quarters to wintering grounds is done. But if you think as the wintering area as an extremely large core area with spread food resource, you might, just might get to 'see' the small waves of, say, thrushes and Starlings that keep crossing to/from Europe. David Lack's early radar studies established that birds still cross the Channel in both directions throughout the winter (think 'hard weather' again- birds can retreat if weather becomes mild again). Still worth a look at the skies first thing. 

> Seawatching: You guessed it. Once again, essentially over. But a watch for an hour or two more toward the mouth will give you a chance to pick up any inter-estuary movements (e.g. some Brent like the Medway to roost, the Thames to feed), or readjusting overnight tidal drift (e.g. species such as Great Northern Diver that hold a 'territory', perhaps over a good crabbing stretch). Plus, the more you observe common species, in various weather conditions, the easier it will be to pick out the oddity next autumn.

> Roosts: Peak times. And often possible to miss the real peak. Those small waves of too-ing/ fro-ing thrushes, as they search for new food sources and safe roosts, might only be present for a few days. Even at sites such as Berengrave LNR, the flooded chalk pit might not really be as undisturbed as needed, and big counts are often "blink and you'll miss 'em". Once a month visits aren't enough.
(2021- a new flightline viewpoint has opened up at southern end Otterham seawall, c/o the major scrub clearance by one private landowner. Thrushes (and fellow travellers) flighting into Motney's reedbed scrub are now much easier to pick up.)

Tide sites of the month

  1) A spring covering at Bloors wharf. Many waders are now fueling up through most of the tidal cycle, and choose not to roost early, but follow the tide up. The flats around Rainham creek will hold many of the central estuary feeders after the 3.0 metre mark. 

  2) A neap high tide at Rushenden. The wrecks and saltings here often hold photogenic numbers at this time.

  3) An ebb off of Horrid Hill. So. Many. Flightlines.  


My perfect December day would be...

 - Morning: First hour of light, the seawall at the Old Brickfields, Lower Halstow. Passerines moving from roost. Field-feeding waders flighting south inland. And the sounds of the wildfowl.

 - Mid-day: Checking inland fields at the easternmost end of the estuary.

 - Late on: A quick check of the basins at Chatham Dockside for the start of the estuary gull roosts. Birds are moving north up the tidal river from mid-afternoon. Get to the Strand, Fairmile wharf by sunset itself and the numbers can be really impressive. Not there to find an oddity, this is all about the movement, a white flurry in the fading light as thousands of birds head for mid-estuary.

Top 10 tips for December:

General birding:

1) Keep a note of wind speeds. This affects numbers. Birds often hunker down in creeks, gullies and tideways, not revealing themselves until forced to. The stronger the wind, the lower the number of birds present on view.

2) Kent is on the colder eastern coast. With passerine escape movements south-west because of weather, only some, not all, will move back. Why counts can keep dropping from this month. And hard-weather movements will see more birds straight through than decide to stay. If you want some high winter counts, December is your month. Earlier the better.

3) Remember Alert Distances. Some species will allow closer approach due to 'risk/reward' - they have to risk allowing you closer so they can keep feeding. But don't stop your approach only at first flush; as soon as a bird shows any sign of alert, that will be close enough.

4) Estuary winds are not your friend. Whatever temperature that forecaster tells you, prepare for a couple of degrees lower. Onshore winds (and windchill) always catch people out. This time of year one hat is never enough. Walking, sure, but as soon as I set up a stop, a lightweight balaclava goes under the warm hat, plus a thin bandana pulled down to act as a second snood. They both live in the pocket otherwise.

Doesn't matter how daft you look, we have no hides here, we have no tea rooms overlooking the flats. Keep warm.

5) It's Christmasssssss(!). The walls will be heaving over the Christmas period. Fact of life. Christmas Day can be pretty quiet (why I always go out for a few hours) but from then until back-to-work, visitor numbers to the walls will be at around their winter peaks.
Expect birds to be shuffled. Get out early to beat the crowds.

Tips for adding value:

6) Mimic BTO WeBS Core Areas. If you can count to same boundaries, then your numbers can provide great comparisons. An interactive map of WeBS Core Areas for the whole country can be found here. This month we look at the WeBS Core Areas for the Riverside Country Park: 

The RCP is covered by three WeBS sectors. The first and third both actually cover larger areas than the RCP boundary, but make sense based on the underlying flats (RCP shoreline boundaries marked by blue line). Spring high tides see very few of these roosts remain available over the top of the tide, with most birds moving more centrally, but, on a neap, several easy to count roosts can hold a large number of the birds that feed on these flats.

On neaps, WeBS sector 22954 ("Copperhouse Bay") holds roosts at (west to east)
- Medway Cruising Club hulks
- Gillingham marshes
- Copperhouse marsh
- Sharps Green Bay hulks (also available on spring tides)
- Horrid saltings

WeBS sector 22949 ("Riverside Country Park")
Three main roost areas all within Rainham Saltings (all go under on higher springs)

WeBS sector 22948 ("Bloors Wharf")
If undisturbed, neap roosts may form around Rainham Docks East and along the western shore of Motney Hill (sadly, very disturbed since lockdown).

Why model your counts in such a way they supplement WeBS? Well, using that link for the interactive map, zoom in and click on any one of these core areas, then click on 'view details'. It will show you a map, say if the sector is vacant and, if you scroll down, show the number of counts made 
22954 Best year in last eleven? Just four monthly counts took place. Three years, no counts whatsoever.
22949 Again, best year saw just four WeBS counts. Five years, zero counts.
22948 Best year, 12 counts (but not at high tide, made on covering). Four years, zero counts.

Doing these counts in coordination with the rib that counts the islands is always difficult, and these shoreline counts might seem disheartening when numbers are low on springs.

But this is all part of why NE, JNCC and DEFRA can say WeBS not fit for purpose on the Medway, and why they appeal for full coordinated coverage. Your supplemental counts can be of use. (And WeBS itself can always use more counters, either for sectors, or acting as reserves, etc. This is probably one of the most complex estuaries in UK to coordinate.)

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BTO WeBS Alerts are issued for those species for which a site was nationally/internationally important at the time it became protected (the 'designated features'). Of our 15 designated features here, at the last formal calculation (for 91/92- 16/17) 9 had High Alerts issued, 3 Medium Alerts. All counts for any of these species can prove useful data. Check their excellent interactive webpage out for full details, species accounts and graphs.

7) Make your Avocets count:

Odd choice, as not anywhere high alert, but a species for which our high protection levels were granted. So, let's have a happy story for once.

Short-term (5 years) +81% Medium term (10 years) +47% Long term (25 years) +755%

The problem here is getting to grips with the numbers. Low-tide feeding often sees groups feeding in creek shallows, and birds may then roost nearby. They do not necessarily come together, but disturbance can lead to some substantial movements over a high-tide period. I recently watched a group flushed from one count zone to another, then to a third, in the space of two hours. If anything, there is now more of a chance of overcounting than undercounting. Why coordinated counts best or, failing that, counts recorded with a time as well.

8) Make your Curlews count:

High alert (for long-term term trend):

Short-term (5 years) +11% Medium term (10 years) -14% Long term (25 years) -68%

Another species that seemingly suffered greatly in the 1990s crash here, but one we've failed to get a full grip on when it comes to numbers, thanks to the number that travel inland at dawn to field-feed. All counts welcomed, especially any counts of birds moving south at dawn (Lower Halstow and Chetney/Funton most important sites for these movements.

9) Count a 'non-bird': Goldeneye:

'Non-featured species' on WeBS Alerts are those for which we do not hold 'important numbers' at national/international but for which we have enough data down the years for trends to be monitored. On the SSSI Alert, Goldeneye sticks out like a sore thumb:

Short-term (5 years) -100% Medium term (10 years) -100% Long term (25 years) -100%

And yet there are a couple of favoured spots where birds are often present in winter months, albeit in small numbers; around Bartlett/ South Yantlet creeks, and the junction of Twinney/ Halstow and Stangate creeks. All counts will be useful data.

10) And this month's whacky suggestion is: try a Christmas Bird Count.

We Brits used to love our January 1st Birdrace. A little less so in recent years, but still a fun way to get the year list up and running. And we often go countywide.

The Yanks and Canucks play a different game over the festive period. The Christmas Bird Count.

The CBC has been going for over a century, and has some pretty in-depth instructions, available here.

This year I've decided it might be fun to try a slimmed-down version.

A CBC is pretty much local birding - all takes place within a fifteen mile diameter circle.

You choose a count day between December 14th- January 5th. That is your '24 hour race equivalent', only you will be counting numbers as well tallying species present.

The three days either side of your day make up your count week. Take your CBC day list/ counts and add on any additional species from week as 'CW'. (Bonus points!)

Your time off from work could be your 'count week'. I'll try mine pre-Christmas (still working on date), to see how it goes and perhaps incentivise some to try a bit of a CBC week on Xmas hols. Lots more rules, but this is just a taster. As always, playing solo, but CBCs are done in teams. For my part, an excuse to perhaps (I said perhaps) go over to the north shore (haven't been since pre-lockdown) or even (gasp) visit a half-decent wood.

The circle is drawn. Watch for news on twitter @dunnokev w. #CBCMedwayEstuary.

Hot off the press for 2021:

 - The new Red Data list is out. The excellent journal 'British Birds' has kindly made an open-access .pdf available of their December '21 article on the changes. Well worth a look, especially if you're not familiar with 'BB'.


For those who keep score, this month's potential:

(Since moving back in 2013, checks at the end of each year have shown annual totals in the 180s, 190s. That's helped by my birding daily here, but a north Kent 200 should be on for someone willing to chase it. This might help incentivise.)

November? 105 species for the month should be an achievable target.

If you're aiming high, but birding purely the southern shore through the year, based on my numbers you might be past 175 by now and if you've been cheekily been including that estuary extension out into the Deep Water Channel, you could, could, just be touching 190.

And finally, something for the listers: what's Medway missing?

This month's top three dreams/nightmares:

  1) Richard's Pipit. They have been on the north shoreline before, but that's Hoo. (Hoo listers get touchy about this. Even if one turned up on tide-covered north Medway saltings they wouldn't let us have it.) Time for one on the southern shore.

  2) Just dangling this out there as turning up more and more on the Hoo Peninsula (again, mustn't get the Hoo listers testy) -  Glossy Ibis. Got to be a chance of one being picked up by other local birders, and money is on it being one in flight.

  3) Finally, let's go daft; American Coot. Simply throwing this one in here as an enticement to get people looking at (and counting) Coots. Most years the peak monthly WeBS count for Coot could be beaten by just one of the southern shore's peninsulas. Admittedly, scanning through thee beasts out on distant private land can be hard, but one wearing a MAGA baseball cap should be easy enough to spot. (Ho ho ho). Seriously, someone has got to put the effort in.


All just a bit of fun; if you do turn something up, well done, if not, it'll have been a hoot trying.

That's it for December. Time to get out there and look...