29th March

I had a short walk along the river this morning on what was a distinctly dismal and grey day….

Undoubted pick of the birds was a Dipper, a new species for the parish and by far the furthest I have ever seen one downstream on the Swale. I first heard it calling (a sound I knew I knew but couldn’t place) and then it flew past heading further downstream. I couldn’t relocate it but hopefully it may stay around (although this part of the river certainly isn’t classic Dipper territory).

A single Siskin overhead was my first of the year and other birds seen included seven Goosander, five Teal, two Kingfishers, a couple of dozen Sand Martins, a Grey Wagtail, three singing Corn Buntings, two Reed Buntings singing in the brief spell of brightness …

and this Little Egret with full ‘aigrettes’...

The other evening in the Magic Garden I had an interesting Chiffchaff, it didn’t call and unfortunately this was the ‘best’ picture I managed but it was quite distinctly brown/buff, enough for my youngest son to pick out without binoculars… 

26th March

Heavy rain this week has led to the first extensive flooding of the winter…

The water receded exceptionally quickly though and by the afternoon had changed from this extensive lake to isolated pools.

Pick of the birds for me (which shows how low inland birders set their sights!) were two Coot on the open water. Doubling the number of records in the parish!

A single Redshank was my first of the year…

The floods also held seven Shelduck, as usual very aggressive toward each other…

Plus seven Grey Herons, ten Snipe, a handful of Lapwing, a pair of Oystercatchers and two Green Sandpipers..

Good numbers of gulls too with a couple of hundred Black-headed and a few dozen Lesser Black-backed, Herring and Common Gulls. Almost 100 Black-headed gulls were also circling high over our garden yesterday - presumably catching flying insects.

Signs of spring are everywhere now with a loud chorus of amphibians and masses of Frog spawn…

But underwater toads too…

And their more delicate spawn you can just see in the centre of the picture…

20th March

A long walk around the southern side of the parish this morning and then back up along the river. A total of 58 species seen. Highlight was the first Sand Martin of the year over the river…

(it is one honestly!)

And I also added Corn Bunting (three singing birds) and Canada Goose to the year list. The latter were a group of 11 birds on the Magic Garden lake including this push-me/pull-me bird…

I totted up a reassuring total of 18 singing Skylarks, there were also three pairs of Grey Partridge seen (including one pair feeding on the mud at the edge of the river), five pairs of Lapwing and three displaying Curlew.

Other birds included a single Golden Plover (flying over the top fields) and very large numbers of winter thrushes, mainly Fieldfares, with upwards of a 1000 birds seen in two main feeding areas. This is a small part of one flock flushed by a Sparrowhawk….

I also saw this Roe Deer nibbling the fresh shoots of hawthorn..

And this striking fungus Phellinus igniarius - The Willow Bracket…

Less happily the lovely little flash near Greenhills Farm (which has held breeding Yellow Wagtail, Shelduck and Little ringed Plover as well as passage waders) has been drained. A depressing loss and presumably subsidised by our taxes…

The fantastic ‘Rich Ditch’ with its excellent mix of aquatic plants has also been  hit hard with heavy dredging and flailing of the ditchside plants…

12th March

Spring is definitely here! Four Chiffchaff singing in the village this morning…

Fantastic chorus of frogs in the Magic Garden lake (with a heron standing on the path hoovering up any that came out of the water) and an early Comma butterfly…

I don’t need much excuse to mention Waxwings again. No more in the village this week but good numbers at work peaking with a flock of over 100 on Friday.

Otherwise it has been a rather quiet few days. Pick of the sightings was a distant view of a possible Goshawk on the Scruton side of the river. Unfortunately instead of watching it I tried (but failed) to take a photo of it so it remains only a possible. There have been odd reports of Gos about this time of year before so may be birds dispersing to breeding sites?

Also on the same side of the river Andy Johnston had a probable male Ring Ouzel on Thursday. This is a bird I’ve often anticipated for the village so maybe this will be the year?

A walk down to the river yesterday only turned up 20 Teal on the Ox-bow, five Goosander, Little Egret and two pairs of Oystercatchers along the river. Chris Knight had a flock of 12 Siskin but they were just north of my patch boundary.  

Walking down Greenhills Lane today I had my first Red-legged Partridge for the year, there was a nice flock of around 35 Stock Doves, a ‘kettle’ of five buzzards and on the flash here there were 20 Lapwing and seven Shelduck.