Monday 6th December 2010

Bradbourne House - PRIVATE SITE

It wasn't a good start to the weak - freezing fog, black ice and a puncture!  I managed to locate the Redpolls again near at the northern end of Oaken Wood, all I could pick out were Lessers and I think that's all there is in there.  They were feeding close to the track from Gallagher's Underpass but the fog was so dense they seemed little more than murky blobs on the end of branches. Five Bullfinches were seen, with three of them associating with the Redpolls, even joining the flock when they flew.  A pair of Jackdaws 'chak-kowed' near Kiln Barn Farm, a seemingly regular visitor to the patch now.

Three distant Pochard - the bird on the right sporting a 'blue' bill

At work I had a couple of reports of a Lapwing near the bypass road at the back of the main lab buildings and 3x Woodcock being flushed near Bradbourne House on Friday evening.  So at lunchtime off I set towards Bradbourne.  I passed through the apple orchard just west of the main lab buildings and it was alive with winter thrushes (Fieldfares and Redwings) as well as Starlings, a noticeable increase in numbers since Friday.  The windbreak Alders were still frozen and a small charm of Goldfinches fed voraciously on the catkins and on the fallen seed in the road.  They weren't as flighty as normal, obviously getting desperate for food.

Spot the Gadwall - a master of disguise, it's plumage identical in colour to dank, browny-grey, winter lake water!

Walking towards Park Farm, I picked out 12x Skylarks, 40+ Linnets and 7x Pheasant in the weedy patch near the white gate but no Woodcock today.  A mist hung over Bradbourne Lake and all the usual suspects were in attendance (Coot, Moorhen, Canada Geese, Grey lag Geese, Black-headed Gull, Little Grebe, Mallard) but were joined by 3x Pochard and 4x Gadwall - rare ducks for this lake.  I tried my best to get some pictures through the fog but they were all pretty disappointing!  I noticed one of the Pochards had what appeared to have a blue tag on it's bill, but I could make out the marks/lettering on it.  A quick search on the internet revealed a thread on BirdForum which suggests its a system used on the Continent...I'll have to investigate further.  

4x Lapwing were feeding under the Holm Oaks near the Hatton Fruit Garden, another sign of the desperation.  However the best bird was to be found last, a Woodcock, sitting out the sub-zero temperatures in the steam outlet.  To think it had taken me 12 years to get this bird on the patch list but managed three sightings in as many days...and what a fantastic view!

Another case of spot the bird. 

Wednesday 13th January

The Fieldfare feeding frenzy continued on the Research Station site. Numbers of Fieldfares and Redwings have built up to huge numbers, I counted 50+ Fieldfares in a single, short orchard row, times this by the numer of rows, 15 and you have 750+ birds, and that's just from one small orchard. There must be between 2,500-5,000+ birds on site at the moment. Note all the apples on the trees that appeared in earlier photos (http://dittoneastmallingbarming.blogspot.com/2009/12/monday-21st-september.html) have now been eaten as there's so many birds around. Snow on snow again this morning. A small flock of Redpolls (7+) were still gracing the Silver Birch in South Street, Barming, feeding in the lower branches so affording good views. Quite a pleasure to meet these each day on the way to work. The roads were pretty atrocious, and after helping to push three cars up the hill I finally reached Heath Road where the sign seemed to sum it up! I took the track off North Street towards the research station and was suprised to see no other human footprints in the snow, although I quickly picked up the track of a fox that had lazily walked and sniffed along the path in the night. Rabbit footprints criss-crossed the track as wellas numerous birdtracks, including those of Blackbirds, Pheasants and Pigeons had been searching out morsels to eat. A female Kestrel sat out in an Oak surveying the snowy scene, a Green Woodpecker flew from the ground and a Grey Heron flapped high overhead. Twelve Blackbirds were seen on this short patch of bridleway and a Bullfinch called, unseen from the hedgerow.


Later, after attempting to count the winter thrushes in the orchard I took in the flock of 200+ Greylag Geese feeding in a cereal stubble field. A Greenfinch caught my eye, it appeared to have a very orange breast unlike the others in the flock - quite striking.

Sunday 10th January

The heavy snow forecast for last night never materialised, so I was off down the River Medway for an hours walk. I did the walk from Barming Bridge to Teston Bridge and back, quite heavy in the snow. Two Snipe were from the streams that run down to the river, a couple of Kingfishers darted ahead of me and themselves put a Grey Heron up from the river's edge. Near Teston Bridge I got onto a small flock of Siskin feeding in a Alder. On the walk back two Cormorants flew over, followed by a single Lapwing. Seven Redpoll were still feeding in the Silver Birch at the top of South Street, Barming and I was pleased to see 12x Greenfinch in the Field Maples at the back of my garden - where they'vr been the last few months I don't know! The afternoon was spent sledging and building a 'snow folly' - didn't get time to put the roof on it! Don't think the local football team will appreciate it when it's still on the centre circle in 5 weeks time!

Sunday 3rd January

Looking after the kids again so a stay at home day. A pair of Coal Tits visited the garden feeders, I'll have to get a box up for them soon and keep my fingers crossed. Quite a common bird to other bloggers but I just can't get enough of this sprightly little gems. The olive-grey mantles and wash of orange on the flanks really stood out out in the sunlight. The snow soon arrived, and I took the kids out snowballing in the nearby orchards. Masses of Fieldfares and Redwings as usual and a couple of Cormorants over, battling against the snow. I also finally got a chnace to check out the Redpolls in the Silver Birch tree at the top of South Street, Barming. Before Christmas I'd found a 'Mealy' after looking up into the tree to see where the drift of seeds was eminating from. With scope in hand I set up and spent a good hour observing the flock of Redpolls taking care not to point the scope towards the windows of the neighbouring houses! There were 12 individuals, separating in 2 distinct groups of 4 and 8 birds

.

Spot the Redpolls (Lessers) - I've become adept to spotting them from the car as I drive past now!

The birds all appeared to be Lesser with the exception of 2 birds in the smaller group which seemed to show some characteristics of Common; paler overall appearance, distinct white wing bar with no buff colouration, pale cheeks, white eye stripe, pale rump and distict white tramlines on mantle, lack of buff colouration on flanks. However they didn't appear much larger or bulkier than than their companions and didn't have the frosted appearance of the birds I'd seen in Ditton Quarry in early 2009. I give up, real hard one to call! I'll keep an eye on them to see if they wear through to 'frosted' plummage. Some poor shots below:

Friday 1st January

All attention was on the garden again (in Barming) - my wife was working and the kids wanted to stay around home today so I found myself staring out the window (hoping for Hawfinch). We'd made some fat balls yesterday and I was interested to see what would be th first to feed on them. A Coal Tit! This is a bit of a garden Mega for me, I managed a poor record shot of this very smart and unexpected bird as it moved onto the seed feeders - a good start for 2010. I'll be looking out for it tomorrow and hopefully get some better pics. Later we visted the orchards, masses of Redwings (300+) and Fieldfares, and a quick scan of the South Street Silver Birch showed up 6+ Redpoll, all looked like Lesser to me.

Monday 21st December

Looking towards the derelict Ditton Laboratory building on Kiln Barn Road from the public footpath.

The snow lingered, and was refreshed by a light powdering overnight. I still couldn't get my car off the drive so missed out on the Research Station Solstice run. An eccentric tradition relived each June and December by some mebers of the Research - the rules: one circuit of Bradbourne Lake as the sun rises on the solstice......but only one item of clothing allowed....trainers count as one item! Its pushed some people's imagination to the limit, it's certainly effective in waking you up before work! I could set up a 'separate' blog with photos of this event if there's enough interest.

I walked into East Malling from Barming, in places the snow covering was completely unblemished. Checking the Silver Birch at the top of South Street at I counted 8x Redpolls in two groups (6, 2). The group of six flew down into one of the gardens on the east side of the street, but looking into the rising sun, and conscious that I was pointing my bins towards bedroom windows (!) I had to presume they were Lessers. Five Bullfinches were seen along Gallagher's Gallop (just north of the Water Tower off North Street), along with a couple of Jays. The Silver Birch wood at the bottom of the hill looked quite startingly, almost like a black-and-white photo. A pair of GS Woodpeckers jumped around a tree on the corner of Kiln Barn Road/Winterfields (very appropraitely named today).The cloud started to break as I reached the research station site revealing briefly the adonis blue sky.

Winter thrushes on trees, canes and on the wing (click to enlarge). Snow on North Downs beyond.

The orchards near Kiln Barn Road that have been full of Fieldfare were deserted, the fallen apples totally covered in snow. I knew where the birds would be, in the orchards that hadn't been picked; the genebank at the back of the church in East Malling (where the Waxwings were seen) and the orchard viewable from the public footpath just west of the main laboratory complex. I ventured out at lunchtime to check out my theory and was amazed at the shear number of winter thrushes that were in the process of what could be called a feeding frenzy.

Redwings which have been relatively scarce on site up until now outnumbered the Fieldfares by about 2 to 1. Lots of Blackbirds and Chaffinches picked around on the ground, while the Fieldfares and Redwings stabbed away at the apples left on the trees and Starlings, Woodpigeons, a couple of Green Woodpeckers and a lone Song Thrush joined in. A Sparrowhawk swept threw and was suprisingly unsuccessful despite the density of the flocks. The genebank was the same, although there seemed to be a greater proportion of Fieldfare here. It was hard to keep track, let alone count the birds. I scanned through as much as possible to see if I could locate a Brambling or even a Waxwing (for Greenie!), if there were any in this swarm then I didn't pick them out. An amazing sight, all viewable from the east-west public footpath on the Research Station, but probably will only last while the snow does.


A special train was passing through East Malling this evening - Tornado, the newly rebuilt steam locomotive on it's first run down this line. My lad's madder on trains than I am on birds, and as it was the shortest day I wasn't confident we'd get a very good view as it sped through East Malling, so we caught up with it at Maidstone West. I was impressed!

Sunday 20th December

Another inch or so of snow fell overnight, refreshing the stained snow of the last couple of days. The number of bird species in the garden looked to have increased when I looked out the window at breakfast; Starlings (very irridescent today), Woodpigeons, Jay and Song Thrush (always good to have in the garden) were all present, picking and feeding on anything they could find. I managed some snaps through the kitchen window of the braver birds that fed on my homemade cheese-lard-sultana-breadcrumb treats (brave to eat anything of mine that was homemade or brave to come so close to the house!).

I don't know what was going on with the Woodpigeons; they were having a feeding frenzy in the ivy at the back of the garden, probably on seed I guess (unless a misplaced shot by one of the neighbours had deposited half a loaf of bread in there).

I still couldn't get my car off the drive in South Street, Barming, so I walked my lad up the road for a lift to a birthday party he had been invited to. I glanced at the Silver Birch at the top of the road and immediately picked out a Redpoll, though I couldn't make out if it was Lesser or Common. I quickly dropped James off and rushed back for the camera. By the time I had returned to the tree there were 3 birds; 2 were Lesser, the 3rd I could quite make out. I tried to get some record shots but failed miserably.....grrrrr. The birds suddenly took flight with some Redwings and so I decided to check out the nearby churchyard and orchard. The churchyard held more Redwings and the orchard was full of Fieldfares and Blackbirds (21 individuals in one row). One Fieldfare had the misfortune to end up as a Sparrowhawk's breakfast; I got a quick glimpse of the raptor on the orchard flew before it flew off with Fieldfare in it's talons. I looked through some of the plucked feathers that littered the ground, black and grey, a sombre combination reminiscent of a guardsman's great coat (see pic below), but smart when they're still attached to the bird!

I managed a glimpse of Barming Bridge through the apple trees, there seemed to be a large flock of Canada Geese milling around the bridge - where there's people there's food I guess! Going back to collect James I checked out the South St Silver Birch again - 6x Redpolls now. I managed some pics but no sure that Common (Mealy) was in there with them; most views were of the undersides which glowed persil-white in the snow-reflected sunshine.

I know I harked on about this yesterday but the icicles today were fantastic - drip, dripping everywhere.


James snapped one of the church porch (just after I'd told him not to) - it was about half the size of him.

The fresh layer of snow looked beautiful, I took more pictures knowing that it would all probably be washed away tomorrow. The evening light on the snow made it look almost like a foaming sea, I've got pictures like the one below from my holidays in Cornwall!

We finished the day with more sledging until it got too dark, the last rays of sun catching the River Medway below our sledging slope.

Friday 6th March

Another lovely sunny Friday morning and a pleasant walk into work. Twenty-three species seen in total but lacking Fieldfare off the list, the first time since end-October. Individual Magpies, Yellowhammers and Blue Tits were all observed with nesting material in their beaks.....is winter over?! A lone Redwing was all that remained of the huge flocks I'd been watching only a few weeks ago.
I guessed a few butterflies might be on the wing, so feeling lucky I ventured over to Ditton Quarry at lunchtime. A 'nest' of Common Lizards were curled up under a strip of roofing felt out I'd left out on a sunny bank way back in the summer. I couldn't quite make out how many there were - all legs, heads and tails! It was looking fairly quiet on the bird front, a Kestrel hovered overhead and a pair of Long-tailed Tits noisly guarded a bramble, potential nesting site I assume. However I heard the call of a Redpoll, I'd assumed they'd gone - the Fieldfares and Redwings had disappeared overnight and in my head I was thinking spring! I quickly latched on to a Lesser Redpoll but it moved off through the Alders and was gone as quickly as it had arrived. Determined to track it down I scoured the scrub for another 10 minutes and eventually struck lucky with a flock of 12 Redpolls feeding acrobatically in a lone Alder. No sooner had I got the camera focused on one of the birds when a police helicopter suddenly appeared and 'buzzed me' for a couple of minutes, sending the flock back of into the trees. Eventually the cops decided I wasn't the guy they were looking for, 'buzzed off' and the birds returned. Two of the birds looked slightly larger, bulkier and paler to me, possibly Common Redpolls, but the plummage within the flock was quite variable and I'm no expert. I've added a number of photos below of putative Common Redpolls (and I've got more from most angles if anyone can tell me what I should be looking for) - any comments?