With not much chance to visit the patch this week the list has increased by three, with Tawny Owl(56), Herring Gull(57) and Coot(58) being added.
Today's walk was a short one before the weather closed in again.At the lake there was a flock of 120 Siskins but very few Lesser Redpolls are about with just three seen.I saw the Water Rail again in the South East corner of the lake and second bird called from the other side of the water.
It was good to find a Coot on the lake plus 27 Canada Geese as well as the usual 3 Great Crested Grebes.
A walk through the alder wood still didn't put a Woodcock although a Sparrow Hawk was seen.
On the walk back up the hill I found 4 Yellowhammers and 2 Reed Buntings in the hedge in Furnace Lane.
Off patch this afternoon, there were once again some Waxwings at the junction of the A21 and Hastings Road, Pembury. The ones around the village have departed as there are no more apples left in the orchard.

Oh well, the sunshine didn't last long and with a return to dreary days, photo opportunities have gone.
The list is creeping along with five new species added in the last couple of days. These being- Pheasant(51), Buzzard (52), Water Rail (53), Sparrow-hawk (54) and Common Gull (55).
A walk up to Haymans Hill orchard today found five Waxwings still present.
I've attached a few photos from sunnier days:-

Dunnock in the back garden

More Waxwings in Haymans Hill orchard

sorry to be a bit boring!!

 

A great day on the patch with the sun shining and the birds singing.I started my walk at 08.00 and by the time I'd reached the lake I had 23 species under my belt.This included all the thrush species I get here in the winter.
At the lake I decided that a walk through the Alder wood would be a good, if a little perilous, idea.This turned out to be both as I added Marsh Tit, Coal Tit and Goldcrest to the tally. Siskin numbers were down on recent counts, about 25, plus 1 Lesser Redpoll.
As I was watching them I heard the unmistakeable sound of wings and looked up to see 6 Mute Swans flying south over the trees, BRILLIANT!! Even though I have the lake I have very few records of this species( less than one a year).
In the wood there was also a Brambling feeding with some Chaffinches.
By the end of my walk I had 49 species, with just one raptor (a Kestrel) and one species of gull ( Black Headed).
So even though I had a really good tally there are still a few species to be had before spring migrants start arriving.
In the afternoon I went for a walk up to Haymans Hill orchard and found 17 Waxwings to make 50 Species for the day.

The last few days of the year didn't throw up anything unusual although the lake had a few Mandarins on it as well as a Coot!(not that common here). There is still a good sized Siskin flock in the alders and there are now 3 Great Crested Grebes.
A walk up to Haymans Hill orchard on the 29th produced just 4 Waxwings and a cracking male Brambling.
Yesterday I had a walk through the alder wood at the southern end of the lake and flushed 3 Woodcocks and found a Marsh Tit.Three Roe Deer ran across the paddock in Shirrenden.
This morning I saw the first Buzzard for little while and the pair of kestrels were around the orchard before it started to rain, yet again.
So the year came to an end with 113 species seen, with one new species (Cetti's Warbler).

Happy New Year and good birding to all!

A short visit this morning produced a nice variety of birds with the highlight being a Peregrine that was harassing the Fieldfares and Redwings in the orchard next to the lake.
On the lake I found a Water Rail in the S/W corner and a Kingfisher on the edge of the reed bed.
On the water there were 2 Great Crested Grebes, A Tufted Duck, 8 Mallard and 10 Moorhens.
A male Kestrel was sitting on a pole in the new orchard and 3 Mandarin  circled the lake before dropping into the wood at the southern end.The Alders held a flock of 40 Siskins.
 I had arranged to meet Glyn at 09.30 so met him at the dam end and we went to look for the Waxwings in Haymans Hill and soon found a small flock of eighteen feeding on some apples.

Waxwings in Haymans Hill

As the sun decided to shine this morning I went up to Haymans Hill to try to get some pictures of the waxwings.I eventually found 16 of them which posed nicely for me.

Todays images plus a group photo from yesterday

The walk to Furnace Pond this morning didn't throw up any surprises although I did see both Kestrel and Sparrowhawk hunting around the orchard. The lake itself is very high and coloured after all the rain and held 12 Mallard, 2 Great Crested Grebes and 20 moorhens.
A single Marsh tit was seen behind the boathouse and a Reed Bunting was at the southern end.With so little on offer I decided to see if the Waxwings were still in the orchard in Haymans Hill.
As usual, the light was bad, but I did manage a couple of slightly better shots.
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They seem to be enjoying the windfalls

 In the afternoon I decided to go and check them out again. On the track up to the orchard there were 3 Reed buntings and a pair of Bullfinches in the hedgerow. The orchard held a lot of Fieldfares and Redwings and it wasn't long before I found the Waxwings flitting between the apples and the overhead wires.As I was watching them the whole orchard errupted as a Merlin (113) shot low over the trees.FANTASTIC!!!!You never know what's going to turn up.