Tuesday 23rd February

Wow wee - 3 (three) Song Thrushes in the garden this morning - small sand all that, but I was pleased when one returned in December, and the last time I think I can remember seeing more than 2 in my garden was probably 1984, so a big event for me!  There seem to be good numbers around at the moment, let's hope they stop and breed successfully (if the cats don't get them).  Got a snap of two of them above.

I tried something different at lunchtime today, and instead of turning left at the research station gate I went left.  A 40-minute jaunt took me off under the railway and then parallel with it and back to East Malling church.  Despite the looming rain there seemed to be plenty of things on the move.  Seven Blackbirds, 3 Song Thrushes and a Green Woodpecker all hopped around a field just SE of the railway bridge.  A GS Woodpecker did a undulating fly-over one of the gardens at Kiln Barn Cottages.  All the usual suspects were seen including good numbers of Blue Tits, however the best find was a murmaration of 500+ Starlings feed voraciously in the paddocks near Paris Farm.  Fieldfares and Redwings were mixed in with them, but it seems like quite a roost has built up here. 

Tuesday 9th February

A session in The Bull, Barming with the newly returned Bald Birder (http://baldbirder.blogspot.com/) and JC (not Jesus Christ as has been suggested!) left me with a sore head - it was their reminiscences of twitching past and antipodean adventures, not the beer that left my head spinning! So I set out into the crisp air and biting winds at lunchtime to try and clear my head of Fairy Prions, Pied Shags, the '66 Brown Thrasher and the revelation that one of the pair suffers from the same medical condition that afflicted Hitler (or did I dream that?).

View from the back gate (note winter thrushes on the football pitch and feral pigeons over oast cowels in the distance)

There were 50+ Fieldfare hopping around the orchard alongside the Kiln Barn Road entrance to the research station. A male Green Woodpecker poked at the ground, occasionally casting a steely stare at me with it's light blue eyes (never noticed they were that colour before, or is it just a trick of the light?).

I had intended to visit Ditton Quarry, confident the Redpolls would be on show in this cold weather, but I got a phone call from my wife asking to be picked up from work. Dropping her back home to Barming I noticed a large flock of winter thrushes drop down onto the playing fields at the back of my house. Peering over the gate I saw a carpet of birds covering the length and breadth of the football pitch. My estimate was 150+ Fieldfare, 60+ Redwing, but always difficult to count as they leapfrog each other (as Warren of Pittswood has commented before).

I've added some more posts today from last week - see below.

Wednesday 27th January

Hard frost this morning, the puddles en route to work had developed rings! Seven Lesser Redpolls had returned to the Silver Birch in South Street, Barming - now into their 2nd month. Otherwise things were pretty quite, with just a Jay and Green Woodpecker by the Pea Field stadning out against the frosty scene.

Tuesday 19th January

Thick mist hung over Barming this morning, no sign of the Redpolls in the South Street Silver Birch, they've not been seen since the cold snap subsided. Four Bullfinches lit up the hedgrow by the Water Tower just off North Street, but my attention was drawn to a raptor flying high, north over Gallagher's Gallop. Initially I put it down to a high flying Sparrowhawk which I often see in the area, but this certainly looked bigger and seemed to have a longer, narrower wing. The wingbeats were continous, no flap-flap-glides. To my eyes it looked like a Harrier which would be a patch tick, but it contnued north, and away from me....another one that got away!

Only a very quick visit to Ditton Quarry today, but managed to locate a handsome male Lesser Redpoll. Masses of Chaffinches drinking and feeding near the Kiln Barn Road entrance to the research station, but despite my best efforts I couldn't turn one of them into a Brambling. A couple of Green Woodpeckers and 150+ Fieldfares on the orchard next the entrance track. A few Redwings were also seen but their numbers have dropped dramatically since the thaw.

Tuesday 12th January

A walk around East Malling Research land again today. A slight thaw had set in, and the cereal stubble just started to poke through. The usual massed flock of Fieldfares and Redwings, 3x Green Woodpecker, 42x Blackbirds, 214x Greylag Geese, 2x Common Gulls, 16x Linnets....but no Woodcock, grrrrrrrr!

Monday 11th January

Winter Thrushes on the cane supports of the concept Pear Orchard

(bit washed out, but click to enlarge)

Back at work, masses of Fieldfares and Redwings at usual and another feeding frenzy brought on by the snow - it really is something to behold, the noise of hundreds of Fieldfares and redwings squabbling over fallen fruit is quite something. The ratio of Redwings to Fieldfare seemed to have changed with more Fieldfares than of late. Opposite the Great East Hostel I was pleased to see a small parcel (13) of Linnets with 5+ Skylarks pecking amongst the same herbs. In the orchard alongside I was suprised to see a gaggle of 90+ Greylag Geese, picking over the apples that the winter thrushes had been feeding on last week (see Monday 4th January blog). The Genebank (orchard at back of East Malling Church) held good numbers of Blackbirds, and the orchard nearest the main Laboratory building held a few Song Thrushes, Chaffinches and Green Woodpecker amongst the assembled flocks and crowds of Fieldfare and Redwing. A male Kestel was also about.

Friday 4th December

A long-awaited walk into work this morning, with no rain or wind to contend with. Peering over the wall to the orchards, opposite the pedestrian crossing on the A26 East Barming I quickly racked up 10 species, including 10+ Redwing, 15 Fieldfare, Green Woodpecker and Sparrowhawk...not bad sightings just off a main road! The rest of the route was alive with birds again; Bullfinches (by Pea Field), GS Woodpecker (opposite Heath Road) and a noticeable increase in Redwing numbers, with birds being seen in two new locations for the winter, and five individuals being picked out feeding in a single tree halfway up North Street. Seven Stock Doves were an unexpected addition, sitting out with the Crows by Gallagher's Gallop. The Little Owl was the last tick of the morning, huddled in it's usual spot in Kiln Barn Farm Cattle shed. Twenty-four species in total, but lacking regulars such as Jay, Pied Wagtail and both Goldfinches and Greenfinches.

Checking the plots mid-morning I was glad to see a Kestrel hunting over the west side of the site, and nine Skylarks and a Pied Wagtail took to the air as I walked down one of the strawed alleyways. The sun was still shining at lunchtime so I did a quick sortie over to Ditton Court Quarry. More Redwings, accompanied by too many Blackbirds to keep tabs on, were feeding on the ground, but were extremley shy and flighty. Eight Lesser Redpolls were still feeding on the Alder trees with the charm of Goldfinches.

Thursday 15th October

3x Jackdaws over Kiln Barn Farm, Ditton this morning - not the commonest of birds on this patch. Jays are guaranteed everyday at the moment as they dementedly collect acorns, and Woodpeckers are more evident than at anytime of the year. The Green Woodpeckers spending all day picking and probing away at the short turf in the paddocks just of Kiln Barn Road and Great Spotted Woodpeckers drumming more incessantly in Oaken Wood, Barming. No sign of Black Redstart today.