The Weekend

I managed a couple of walks this weekend again BUZZARDS featured highly on Saturday afternoon with possibly up to 7 present. There were 5 BULLFINCH scattered around the site with a group of 3 and 2 singles. A GREENFINCH was in the car park again as well as several REDWING and FIELDFARE. Out in the fields a check of the skies found good numbers of GULLS heading west, mainly COMMON but there were about a dozen BLACK HEADS and at least 3 MEDITERRANEAN GULL (63).
Sunday morning was windier so I concentrated most of my time in the woods, several TREECREEPERS sung and the usual MARSH TITS and NUTHATCHES. Just 3 REDPOLL were found but no Siskin were around today, I spent some time looking for Lesser Spot and the Water Rail without success. 6 BULLFINCH were again present in the car park.

Goldcrest taken at 1600iso

A bit of colour in the garden

Sun and no wind!!!

What a stunning morning, a light frost and wall to wall sunshine. The car park held 3 FIELDFARE and 12 REDWING, a CHAFFINCH was singing, the first time I've heard one this year, it was joined by DUNNOCKS, ROBINS and SONG THRUSHES which made it feel decidedly spring like. A look from the barn across the valley produced 5 GREY HERON (61) having a look at the damage done to their nests over the winter, a couple have been lost completely, I hope they rebuild successfully. While watching them a CANADA GOOSE (62) called as it flew through the valley. On the lake the WATER RAIL was seen well but not long enough to get any pics.
I spent quite a long time in the woods looking for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker to no avail but there were plenty of TREECREEPERS, NUTHATCHES joined by MARSH TITS and GOLDCRESTS with the odd SISKIN and REDPOLL flying over. Coming out of the wood the first BUZZARD was picked up flying low towards me, later 5 were in the air at once and a SPARROWHAWK also circled over Digdog Lane.
A quick look in the hide found the only YELLOWHAMMERS of the morning with 4 on the ground below the new feeders. Other birds this morning included 3 BULLFINCH, 27 STARLINGS a GREENFINCH and a few STOCK DOVES milling around. I managed a couple pics but hoped for better.

Pied Wagtail

Pied Wagtail

Wren

Treecreeper

Treecreeper

Robin

Group walks at Sissinghurst

Saturday saw a the Maidstone RSPB Group visit Sissinghurst, it was great to be with them with Peter the Ranger who organised the walk with Simon Ginnaw. We started off around the car park with half a dozen REDWING flying out over the new orchard followed by 5 BULLFINCH, 4 male and 1 female which where picking up grit.I caught a glimpse of the WATER RAIL as it disappeared under a fallen tree. It wasn't the busiest morning bird wise but we did add either hearing or seeing MARSH TIT, NUTHATCH and TREECREEPER also a nice little flock of REDPOLL were seen whilst we looked for Lesser Spotted Wood which didn't materialise. A BUZZARD was seen early on then 2 were picked up later over Roundshill Wood. We were lucky with the weather it rained hard around 8am and then not again until around 12 when we were sitting inside with a nice hot coffee.
This morning another great local group joined me in slightly windier conditions but nice bright sunshine at times certainly was appreciated. The highlights were a couple of LESSER REDPOLL and 9 SISKIN feeding together by the lake, which also produced several FIELDFARE and REDWING in the next field. It was hard going but we did find 31 species. A GREEN WOODPECKER showed well in  nice light as a BUZZARD flew behind it. After the group left I spent a short time looking across the valley, this was brightened by a male MERLIN (60) which flew low across the field next to Digdog Lane.

No pics this weekend so this one was from last week :-)

Dunge and Feeders at Sissinghurst Castle!

Saturday morning I headed Dungeness to catch-up with a few more winter birds, to be honest I found nithing ground breaking but enjoyed a morning out and about remaining relatively dry! A quick sea watch produced a few GANNET, lots of GUILLEMOT and just 1 RAZORBILL as well as KITTIWAKE, RED THROATED DIVERS and loads of more of the common gull species. On the reserve large numbers of wildfowl included half a dozen SMEW, all female and several GOLDENEYE. A BLACK THROATED DIVER was on New Diggings and a couple of GREAT WHITE and LITTLE EGRETS were around the reserve and a KINGFISHER flew passed Hanson Hide a quick look for the Black Necked Grebe proved fruitless although time wasn't on my side. A look at Scotney did produce the LONG TAILED DUCK which is always a nice bird to encounter, lastly a look along Caldicott Lane didn't produce the Bewicks I was hoping for.
This morning a look at the local patch for a couple of hours, again in some nice light and generally pleasant conditions albeit a bit muddy, did produce one new bird for the year a wintering CHIFFCHAFF (59). Other birds today included 9 GREENFINCH, the best count for over a year! 1 COMMON SNIPE, 2 KESTREL, 1 SPARROWHAWK, 3 BUZZARD, 5 BULLFINCH and reasonable count of 15 BLACKBIRDS, there were only 1 each of SISKIN and REDPOLL.
It was nice to go to the hide and sit for a while to see if any birds had found the little feeding station the ranger had put up, after a while a GREAT TIT and 2 BLUE TITS visited the new feeders!
Here are a couple of pics from the last couple of days

Great White Egret

Guillemot

Kittiwake

Gadwall and Wigeon

Fieldfare

Fieldfare

Great Tit on new feeding area from the hide

Feeding Station

More patch visits

I have managed a couple of patch visits since my last post and added a couple of nice birds, firstly a WOODCOCK was flushed on Friday (17th) afternoon, just before I came across a smart COMMON REDPOLL and then a male PEREGRINE flew south west as I watched over 450 COMMON GULLS going the same way as it got to dusk.

A short visit yesterday morning added 15 GREYLAG GEESE heading north and a single SISKIN plus another interesting Redpoll which I couldn't decide if it was Common or something else. A KESTREL was also new for the patch year list.

This morning started well with a BUZZARD by the car park and then great views of the FIRECREST, unfortunately not in the best light as I could only get around 1/30th of a second exposure even on ridiculously high ISO, which was shame but I certainly enjoyed watching the bird feeding out in the open for about 5 minutes or more. In the wood a nice flock included 2 MARSH TIT, 1 COAL TIT, 10+ BLUE TIT, 2 GREAT TIT, 12 LONG TAILED TIT, 3 NUTHATCH, 2 GOLDCREST, 2 G.S. WOODPECKERS and 3 TREECREEPER, which kept me entertained for quite a while, further on in the wood another smaller flock included the bird I was really looking for LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER  (57), I managed a couple of shots but despite good light the bird seemed determined to stay in the shade most of the time!

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

First real patch visit

After some busy weekends and bit of birding elsewhere I finally got to the patch this morning, what a great morning to be out too, with sun and hardly any wind. I started by checking if there were any Snipe around, I didn't find the hoped for Jack but was happy with 7 COMMON SNIPE, also here were the first of 8 BULLFINCH seen today. Moving up to the car park I managed to find a couple of GREENFINCH. FIELDFARE and REDWING were in evidence all morning, as were a handful of LESSER REDPOLL also seen flying around. Heading to the lake a NUTHATCH called and I heard a crest call, which I was sure was a FIRECREST, eventually it gave itself up, a really great start to the year on the patch, it was forever on the move but I did manage a couple of shots. In the woods I added MARSH TIT, TREECREEPER, GOLDCREST and COAL TIT. In the fields there were 23 MEADOW PIPIT, 6 SKYLARK, 4 YELLOWHAMMER, a REED BUNTING and a couple of LINNET. A COMMON BUZZARD flew west and a GREAT BLACK BACKED GULL flew north, not the most common of the gulls here. Finally a LITTLE OWL called and a SPARROWHAWK shot across the lane as I headed home. I finished on 47 species which makes 49 for the year, as I popped in late on Friday to listen for TAWNY OWL, which did call, I also had the bonus of a calling WATER RAIL then as well!

Blue Tit

Firecrest

Firecrest

Nuthatch

Interesting Redpoll - Hemsted Forest, Kent

On Thursday 9th this bird was found by Steve Broyd and subsequently Stephen Message, who got several video grabs as follow here. Any comments are welcome, I'm hoping there will be plenty of opinion.
The bird was seen close to where the Crossbills have been being viewed from, where everyone stood to look at the Oak and drinking pool just take the next left turn and head down the dip until it levels out and view the alders in that area.