After the blow...

As I hadn't seen much before work during the week, mainly because it was mostly dark! I was pleased that the overnight and morning wind and rain had passed through by mid morning, so I managed a 2 hour walk from 11am-1pm. A quick stop on the entrance road produced Snipe and a Buzzard was perched again in what appears to be it's favoured tree for the time being. Moving on to the car park which can be quite productive, there were a few Goldfinches and thrushes flying over, the vegetable garden always looks good for birds and 2 Meadow Pipits flew up from it but that was all, in spring and autumn it's the favoured area for Whinchat and Wheatear. A Little Owl was a nice surprise as I stood by the corner of the moat as it flew from it's roosting place. The woods and lake were fairly quiet despite it being the first time I've seen the lake without any ice for weeks. Back out into the open fields I spent most of my time scanning, I only heard 1 Siskin and saw 1 Redpoll as I turned and scanned the woods a SPARROWHAWK (62) skimmed over the top of the wood(at least it makes the picture a little more relevant!). My walk usually ends looking across the valley as it is great view and a nice way to finish, today it was especially memorable as I saw movement infront the distant trees and as the bird broke the sky line it was revealed as a large female PEREGRINE (63) not a bird that we see often, maybe a couple of times a year and a great way to end the walk, I watched it drift closer and get dive-bombed by a couple crows then it disappeared towards Staplehurst.