Wednesday 9th March 2011

Photo courtesy of John Robinson 

Off work today looking after my youngest and a stop off in West Malling this morning yielded my first identifiable butterfly of the year - a Red Admiral basking on the wall outside the Baptist Church, Swan Street.  No Waxwings today that I saw in King Street, but the cotoneaster was stripped bare.  Another cotoneaster on Norman Road remain untouched...strange!  John Robinson who originally found the birds has kindly send me some photos from the weekend, a selection of which are below:

All courtesy of John Robinson 

Driving back along the A26 between Teston and Barming I picked a large flock of seagulls on the fields N of the road.  This filed has held Med Gull in the last couple of years, and with 15+ seen recently in Mote Park I was hopeful I'd be picking one out amongst the flock.  125+ BH Gulls later I was no the richer!  Oh well, I'll keep checking.  Final bit of birding of the day was a Common Buzzard S over the M20 just E of jcn 7.

Tuesday 8th March 2011

A hard frost carpeted Barming this morning but quickly melted away as the sun rose.  My walk in to work yielded 30 species including previously 'hard-to-get' species Nuthatch and Goldcrest in the oaks near the allotments off North Street.  Five LBB Gulls mingled with BH, Common, Herring and Common Gulls on Gallagher's pasture opposite the underpass.  Redwing, conspicuous by their absence in recent days made a reappearance, along with a smattering of Fieldfare in the orchards alongside the Tonbridge Rd, Barming.

Exotic-looking tree blossom (species unknown?)

At lunchtime the wind had changed to a SW and although breezy it felt warmer.  A shrub and tree on the research land were in full blossom, the later was 'humming' with bees.  I wandered over to Ditton Quarry which was fairly quiet apart from a Kestrel (with lots of it's pellets scattered around), Goldcrest and a few charms of Goldfinches.  

Kestrel pellets

A Smooth Newt was found under a refugia.

Smooth Newt

Most unusual find of the day had to go to this:

...a 34D bra hanger, in bright pink....wonder what the story behind that was...or perhaps I don't!  Amazing what gets discarded in the most unlikely of places, needless to say I didn't see the person who had discarded it.

Monday 7th March 2011

A beautiful crisp, sunny morning...at last.  What hadn't been touched by frost had been dabbed with dew, like on the Wood Pigeon feather above, a remnant of a Sparrowhawk attack.

A pair of Bullfinches fed near the oaks just N of the water tower and the hedgerow was alive with Great Tits and Blue Tits.

Thanks to John I got news that Waxwings were still present in West Malling, and having not had the fortune of seeing them in sunshine at East Malling I thought I'd go the mile or so off patch.  When I arrived a couple of hearses were being moved around, which kinda summed it up, it looked pretty much dead!  I could see where the Waxwings had being feeding, Cotoneaster berries littering the floor and car bonnets.

I glanced up at a Silver Birch next to the Cotoneaster and there were 3x Waxwings sitting quietly and unperturbed by the comings and goings below them.  A tap on a car window, and John's happy face beamed out at me - I jumped in and John pointed out another Waxwing hidden under the canopy of the tree.  Over the next 30 minutes or so 20+ birds descended on the bush, often flying off as quickly as they arrived.  Talking to some of the residents of the flats it seems they have been around for a week or so.

Here's a couple more - and thanks to John for finding them and for the updates.

Red eye - reflection of all those berries I'm sure

Stopping off at Bradbourne Lake on the way back I was amazed at the numbers of Coots on the lake, 40+ and four Tufted Ducks were a new addition.

Stuff dreams are made of (for Warren)

Finally, I'll be out looking for Saturn again tonight.  Using my scope I got excellent views of it - pretty mind blowing.  As you can see my skills at planetary photos are just as good as my avian ones ;-) 

Saturn located with the aid of Stellarium - just remember to enter your location otherwise you'll be looking at the wrong thing!

Friday 5th March 2011

Thirty species on the walk into work from Barming this morning, including a Gull spectacular: Black-headed (x23), Common (x15), LBB (x3) and a flyover GBB.  Best sighting went to a very vocal Nuthatch calling high up from the oaks by the North Street allotments, not as exciting as having a Sperm Whale on patch but my first for the year and only the third on patch.

The unique wind vane atop one of the Research buildings - 

demonstrating the effect of different Malling rootstocks (M series) on fruit tree vigour

There was still a chill in the air with the easterly wind persisting, but eventually the sun came out and I checked the plots to see what was about.

The Linnets were still looping nervously around the tunnel frames, occasionally perching up on them, and were joined by three Skylarks.  A quick check of the Miscanthus plots turned up 5+ Reed Buntings, and then it was back to work!

Thursday 4th March 2011

Some sunshine at last - not much on the bird front, and my hope of finding a Med Gull amongst a flock of 40+ Black-headed Gulls on the Research site didn't materialise.  At least the Daffs were out and the Great Tits were calling!

Wednesday 2nd March 2011

After spending the end of last week and the weekend adding roving records from nearby Atlas squares it was nice to be back on patch.  I'd borrowed a colleagues camera and gone for a wander without my bins - fatal!  I decided to check out an area of set-aside at the back of the strawberry tunnels.  Despite it's industrial appearance this area has been quite productive over the winter with Linnets, Meadow pipits and Skylarks all in evidence.  I wasn't disappointed today with a flock of 50+ Linnets and 7x Skylarks.

Linnets on the move

A large raptor caught me off guard as it drifted above me, I thought it was a Buzzard but without my bins couldn't be sure so had to resort to firing off some shots with an unfamiliar camera!  The shot below confirmed it was a Common Buzzard which as the name suggests are becoming noticeably common on my patch!

Checking out the Miscanthus plot I was pleased to see 9x Reed Bunting still around.  Three cock Pheasants strutting their stuff added some colour to an otherwise gloomy day.

Still without a bike I walked home, taking in the huge tangerine sun and my old mate the Little Owl who put a bit of a display on for me (see video here) and even gave me a wink at the end of this one.

Thursday 24th February 2011

At last some blue sky and a pleasant walk in to work.  Everything was in song and I was lucky to see 34 species en route, the highlights being:  a pair of Kestrels (Oaken Wood), Little Owl, 2x GS Woodpeckers, 2x Grey Herons, Linnets, Common/Herring/Black-headed and LBB Gulls and a lone Brambling (opposite Ditton Lab) - everything seemed to be paired up.  Best of all, and you'll probably laugh, were a pair of Mallards (no 52 for Oaken Wood if you can count fly-overs) that zipped in, over Oaken Wood and onto Gallagher's pasture just S of Kiln Barn Farm.  As rare on this part of my patch as a 'Coot in Pittswood'.

When you've got no water on your patch this is as exciting as it gets!

By lunchtime the sun had disappeared in East Malling and it looked like Armageddon was on it's way.

I covered another section of the West Malling & Mill Street tetrad, taking in Clare Park and Broadwater, and was lucky to add an elusive Coal Tit to the BTO Atlas.  Both Skylark and Pheasant which I expected to easy ticks today failed to materialise.

There, on the nuts, best I could do without invading a resident's privacy

By the time I came to go home the sky had once again changed and a dramatic sunset was forming, hopefully indicating fair weather tomorrow?!