Saturday 18 February 2012

Finch Flock

New Diggings - 0945hrs - mild, cloud and sunshine, sw4/5 - A blustery start to the day. Plenty of wildfowl from the causeway road including 19 Smews (3 drakes), 6 Goldenyes and a drake Goosander, plus single Great White and Little Egrets. Over the road on ARC, 200 Wigeons, Shovelers and Gadwalls.
Lydd Airport - 1015hrs - A large flock (well, large by todays standards) of 150 Chaffinches near the farm deserved a scan through for a Brambling, but all I could find was 4 Goldfinches and a Greenfinch. In the pine trees Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers, while on the farmland hundreds of Woodpigeons, Stock Doves, Starlings, corvids and Common Gulls, plus a covey of 6 Red-legs.
Walland Marsh - 1100hrs Spent a couple of hours driving across the Marsh scanning for the eagle but to no avail. 35 Bewick`s were back in the field at Midley and Tree Sparrows were noted at two regular sites, but as usual there were few small farmland birds to be found. Three Marsh Harriers, Buzzard and Kestrel noted.
Scotney - 1330hrs A good selection of geese at the Sussex end with 9 Brents on the water and 9 close White-fronts amongst the plastic Barneys, Grey Lags and goodness-knows-what, Emperor/Snow/Bar-headed hybrid types (given up trying to work out their parentage so propose to create a new species: how about the Scotney Goose Anser scotneus ). At the Kent end, 500 Wigeons, Lapwings, Goldies and Starlings, 10 Dunlins and singles of Redshank and Ringed Plover.
Boulderwall - 1430hrs With the wind picking up and drizzle in the air scanned the fields but all I could find was 15 Curlews, 3 Marsh Harriers and a Blackwit over. The Long-tailed duck remained on Burrowes and there was a report of 5 Snow Buntings at the Point earlier. Had a quick look from the boats in fading light without success.

                                          Bewick`s Swans - Midley

                                           White-fronts - Scotney
                                          Barnacle Geese - Scotney
                                           4 Scotney Geese - Scotney!

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