April 26th

A 5.30 start today and moths were back on the agenda, not before a quick look on the green in front of the castle though. It was actually quite cool and the a little windier than the weekend, when Steve and I got to the traps we found the moths had noticed this to, where there were 72 Brindled Pugs on the wall a few days ago this morning produced just 3! Despite this we did still add 3 new species for the year Clouded Border, Square Spot and Foxglove Pug, bringing the years total to 87 species.
As there weren't many moths I was walking by around 6.00am, a CUCKOO was singing early on, the first of 2 today, one of them being seen well. A couple of large gulls drifted over heading north a HERRING and a LESSER BLACK BACKED. There were 4 of us this morning looking around, obviously with Hoopoe in mind but after an hour or so looking in the most likely places there was no sign. I headed to the lake where a NIGHTINGALE was singing, this is away from the traditional sites here, it remains to be seen if this bird is just passing through. There were 2 GARDEN WARBLERS also at the lake otherwise it was fairly quiet. The Horse Chestnuts look particularly impressive at the moment and I think, here, we have not had many cases of the disease which has been affecting these trees recently.

COMMON WHITETHROATS were again in good voice today, there were at least 6 singing birds. A MEADOW PIPIT flew up from...you guessed it, the meadow, this was the first of these for a couple of days at least. 2 KESTRELS flew from an Oak by the stream and I managed to find  3 YELLOWHAMMERS and a pair of REED BUNTINGS as I made my way back to the car. Before I got there, I got a call from Stephen, he had had a Red Kite yesterday evening and it was still around near Digdog Lane this morning, unfortunately from my view point I couldn't see it and didn't have time to look for it as it was nearly 8.00am. Whilst writing this, some 6 hours later, Steve Broyd text to say he has just seen a Kite species presumably Red, heading towards Sissinghurst village from Digdog Lane.