Sunday 3rd August

A brief respite in in the drizzle gave me the oppurtunity to take a wander through the apple orchard between South Street, Barming and Rectory Lane, East Farleigh. I was with my father and didn't expect to see anything different from normal. A pair of Sparrowhawks were drifting high, a pair of Swallows zoomed low and good numbers of House Martins busily fed over the river near Barming Bridge. However the highlight of the walk was my first Spotted Flycatcher of the year on this patch. I'd been watching this particular piece of land adjacent to the orchards for a number of months now - everything about it looked like right for a flycatcher- dead spindly branches, ivy-clad shrubs and concrete pill-boxes, slightly damp ground so obviously lots of flies, but nothing had been seen...until the day I went out for a non-birding walk without the camera! I'll revisit the site and see if I can't get some pics.