I woke to news of more Waxwing sightings in Maidstone, with one flock of 22 in nearby Allington. I decided to check out those locations where I thought they might turn up nearby. Maidstone Hospital car park, St Andrews Park, various roads in Allington, Ditton Court Quarry and finally East Malling Research (it had to be bad going to work on a weekend!). Needless to say I didn't find any Waxwings. Returning home I found out from a local blog follower that there had been 23 birds mid-morning in Barming! There's a strong possibility they were the same flock seen in Allington earlier in the morning, but with so many birds about who knows?! The birds had only remained a short time before moving on, but thanks Donna for the info, a new record for the Barming Heath tetrad so very much appreciated. If anyone in the locality does happen to see any others then please feel free to contact me by phone (07972899377) or by email (adam.whitehouse@emr.ac.uk) - I will treat all reports in confidence in case anyone's worried about being descended on by hordes of twitchers!
The trips to the other sites won't wasted - Ditton Court Quarry turned up a couple of Lesser Redpoll and the number of winter thrushes on the East Malling Research site had increased massively with literately hundreds (maybe thousands) of Fieldfare and Redwing, supplemented by a huge murmaration of Starlings an company of Chaffinches. Amongst the Chaffinches was a single Brambling, the first on this site for winter. I'm sure there were more out there, and probably a Waxwing or two, but I just couldn't keep track of everything - really quite a spectacle (the photos don't do it justice!).
2 comments:
that brambling photo isnt of your Usual Standard Adam :-)
It seems you have all the winter thrushes there, not many at all here today.
Adam ,
Well done with the Brambling .
I bet the publishers of the Countryfile calender are quaking in their boots by the news of yours.
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