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.

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

                                             

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

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

Saturday the 24th produced a Peregrine that landed in an oak in Shirrenden and a lovely Lesser Spotted Woodpecker behind Lake Cottage.

                                                                  Saturdays Peregrine
Twenty one Lapwings went over S/E.
The following morning a Brambling went over as did another 14 Lapwings and a Cormorant.After work on Monday a Mandarin drake was on the lake and my first three Lesser Black-backed Gulls(68) went over.
This morning I work to find snow on the ground and went out during some heavy snow showers.

Three Water Rails were near the feeders

Todays Water Rails

Lots of Lapwings were escaping the snow a they went over south, in total 380 were seen,easily the highest patch total.

The lake had attracted a Little Grebe and a Coot.

The garden was full of birds with a dozen Chaffinches and 16 Goldfinches,2 Greenfinches,a Lesser Redpoll,a Pied wagtail,3 Collared Doves,3 Blackbirds,2 Dunnocks,a Robin,14 Redwings and 2 Fieldfares.

                                                              Fieldfare in the garden

Redwing enjoying the ivy berries

Four Grey Wagtails came in to roost on the16th.The patch wasn't visted on the 17th as we went to Bramblehall Wood in Surrey to see the Hawfinches that have congregated there.
We were not disappointed as we saw over a hundred in the early morning sunshine. An incredible sight!

                                            Distant shot of one of the many Hawfinches

After Bramblehall Wood we went to Staines Resevoir to see the American Horned Lark which has been there for some time.

                                 

WHAT A CRACKER!!!

We also saw two Black-knecked Grebes and a male Scaup.

Back to the patch on Sunday 18th and there was a big flock of Siskins plus Lesser Redpolls and a MEALY REDPOLL amongst them.

We're halfway through February and the weather has been changeable with some cold spells but not much has changed on the patch although I was delighted to see the first Lesser spotted Woodpecker(66) of the year as it drummed and called. It's always a real treat to find this cracking little bird on the patch.
There has been an increase in Lesser Redpoll numbers with 20 feeding in alders on the 4th and at the weekend one was on the garden feeders.

Redpoll in he garden

The highlite of  last weekend was a Raven(67) which went over west pursued by a pair of local crows.

The orchards are still holding good numbers of Fieldfares and Redwings plus a big flock of  Linnets and on the lake the Coot was joined by another on the 6th but it was gone by the next day.

The garden feeders have also attracted a couple of Siskins and a small flock of Redwings have been attracted to the ivy berries.

                                                             Redwings in the garden

Joined by Song Thrush