Sunday 18 March 2018

March 11th produced my first Greylag Geese(72) when two went over. Friday 16th saw the weather become very springlike and I was delighted to find a Chiffchaff(73) at the edge of Shirrenden wood. A male Reed Bunting was singing from lakeside trees and a Lesser Spot called from the southern end.
With the day being so sunny we went down to Dungeness for a walk and were delighted to see our first Wheatear and lots of Firecrests.

                                                    Firecrest in the lighthouse garden.

Bramblings have really increased in numbers lately with at least 30 in the orchard this morning plus a fine male which has been coming to the garden feeders.
                                                            Barmbling in the garden

With the news that a White-spotted Bluethroat was at Denge Gully we made our way down and despite the bitter wind we managed to see this delightful little bird.

Wednesday 14 March 2018

Sunday 4th March began with a Reed Bunting at the top of the farm track.
Reed Bunting

There was a flock of 150 Siskins in the alders plus 20+ Lesser Redpolls and a Mealy Redpoll.
The lake held two Teal drakes and a Mandarin of note and a Woodcock was flushed from the alders.
The first Kingfisher for a while was seen on the stream.
Twenty one Lapwings went over east and acouple of Bramblings were in the orchard.
Two Great Black-backed Gulls(71) were a welcome addition to the year list and it was nice to have three Skylarks over.
The evening of the 6th was marred by the finding of a Tawny Owl hanging high in a tree by fishing line.On inspection with the binos I could see that it was alive. Luckily Wez was with me,so we got a ladder and with the help of two visiting birders I climbed the tree to rescue it.

Unfortunate Tawny Owl
Upon rescue the bird was taken to Folley Wildlife Rescue Centre in Groombridge.

THANK YOU TO THE IRRESPONSIBLE ANGLER THAT LEFT HIS FISHING TACKLE IN THE TREE!!!!!!!

The 10th saw the Coues's Arctic Redpoll in the mixed flock.The following morning I found it early on but I don't think it was seen by visitng birders but the flock was very mobile.
The orchard held plenty of birds with eight Bramblings amongst them and a Greylag Goose(72) went over.
Tuesday evening we got a call from the rescue centre to say we could collect the Tawny Owl for release.It was great to be able to get it back into the wild.
A BIG THANKS TO ALL WHO HELPED WITH THE RESCUE AND REPAIR OF SUCH A BEAUTIFUL BIRD.
This evening a Brambling was under the feeders and a Grey Wagtail was in the ditch opposite the pumping station.
Brambling under the feeders
Grey Wagtail opposite the pumping station
                                             


Saturday 3 March 2018

The morning was spent down at the lake as I found an interesting Redpoll near the pumping station in Furnace Lane.After watching it for 15 minutes or so the flock moved to alders behind lake cottage.
After a couple of phone calls I was joined by Stephen Message who took a series of photos.
I've attached them for any comments!
                                                 
                                               


Thanks to Stephen for the images

Friday 2 March 2018

March has arrived and with an icy blast from the east.
The snow has pushed lots of  birds into our garden with lots of Redwings and a few Fieldfares but best of all was a male Brambling that appeared briefly on the 1st.
A poor photo of a Stunning Bird!

Down at Furnace Pond and the highlite on the first was a Lapwing that settled on the ice covered lake and a pair of Mandarins.
Lapwing on the ice
I  decided to follow the stream that feeds into the lake and flushed a Woodcock and found a Kingfisher which flew towards lake.
This morning as I walked the ditch opposite the pumping station a Snipe(69) got up and dropped back in behind me and at the lake four Teal(70)  circled the lake but didn't land.Also of note were three Yellowhammers that went over.
As with yesterday there were lots of birds in the garden giving some photo opportunities.


Fieldfare coming to apples I put out to attract them
Redwing loving the Ivy berries 

Siskin at the feeders
                                                     Unusual looking female Blackbird