Friday 26th November 2010

Track at northern perimeter of Oaken Wood, looking west.  The Redpoll flock are frequenting the silver birches on the right of the photo.

Cold, very cold this morning.  I detoured off my usual route into work to check out the northern perimeter of Oaken Wood in the hope of adding either Coal  or Marsh Tit to tetrad TQ75C (Oaken Wood).  I failed to find either species but not noticed a small charm of Goldfinches feeding in the band of silver birches just to the west of Gallagher's Gallop (cTQ718559), number 34 for the tetrad.  Then, from no where 40+ Redpolls took to the air, calling distinctly as they looped back on themselves and into the trees nearest the gallop.  I could see them flitting around and feeding but they were too distant and I'd run out of time to try and identify them all.....a job that would have to wait until my lunch break.

Cycling down past Kiln Barn Farm I noticed the dead Badger that I'd discovered on Wednesday had gone - too close to cattle to be left I guess.

Back out looking for Redpolls at lunchtime and the flock was quickly refound in it's original location.  They were quite well dispersed amongst the birches and I only managed to pick out 10 individuals, all Lessers as far I as could make out, before the flock took to the air and I counted 42 birds, by far and away the largest flock I've had on patch.  A couple of Bullfinches lisped nearby and a Kestrel was mobbed first by Crows but then by Rooks as it flew over.   On the nearby gallop pasture were a mix of Wood Pigeon, Stock Dove (x11), Crows, Rooks and Jackdaws, but unfortunately all just over the tetrad line -  three of those species are needed for TQ75C on  BTO winter atlas.  I took the track around the northern perimeter of Oaken Wood and then past Luckhurst Farm and back down Sweets Lane to the Research Station.  I added Redwing (x3), Fieldfare (x9) and Jay the day list but didn't find the hoped for Skylark or Linnet that I thought I'd find at or near the Sweets Lane Stables.

Tuesday 16th November 2010

Tetrad TR51I (Aylesford and British Legion Village)

A hard frost in Barming this morning, but I missed out on my usual ride into work as I had to drop my car off for repairs on the Quarrywood Estate, Aylesford.  I unloaded my bike from the car and rode the short distance along the footpaths from Aylesford to East Malling.  As soon as I left the industrial estate in Aylesford I heard, then saw, 3x Jackdaws on the newly ploughed opposite Calves Leys Cottage.  This was quickly followed by a Bullfinch that darted in front of me and ducked into the adjacent hedgerow.  This got me thinking whether either of these species had featured in the winter records form the BTO Atlas?  This is the final winter for Atlas work and Tim Hodge recently posted an excellent summary of the 'species richness' for each tetrad in Kent on the KOS website.  So when I got a break at work I quickly checked if either of these species were needed for TQ51I (Aylesford & British Legion Village)....and they were!  With this in mind I got back on my bike at lunchtime and went off patch, well 5 minutes east to see what I could find.  By the end of the hour I'd filled in six gaps; Stock Dove (x2), Grey Heron (x1 sitting in a stubble field), Pheasant, Little Grebe (2x on a small pool next to BHS!), Linnet and Skylark (37+ and 6 respectively in the same stubble field as the Heron).  Others seen but already on the list were Jay (x5), Goldcrest (x2), Woodpigeon (+160), Carrion Crow (+45), Common Gull (x3), Black-headed Gull (x23) and low numbers of Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tit.  A very satisfying hour and a chance to discover some new places and habitats close-by.  I know I can probably add a few more species; LBB Gull has got to be a cert on the warehouse roofs, a small grove of Holm Oaks and Scots Pine should turn up a Coal Tit (possibly overwintering Chiffies or even a Firecrest?) and Yellowhammer or Meadow Pipit have got to be in or around the stubble field.  This nut platt was a nice find, though not sure what potential it has bird wise?

To top it all off, a work colleague told me he had a Woodcock feeding on the grassy area adjacent the research car park at 18:30 last night as he left work - he described it perfectly-and one I still need for then patch!

Finally, with the sun shining I wasn't too surprised to see a butterfly flitting around outside the office window - a Red Admiral that had tucked itself somewhere warm to avoid last night's heavy frost. 

Tuesday 7th September 2010

A suprise in the form of 2x Turtle Doves flushed from a newly combined field north of Easterfields, East Malling. One alighted into a tree over the road where I managed a pic (see below) before it took flight again - top quality as usual...come on it's the reason you visit my site! Amazingly these are the first Turtle Doves I've seen on the East Malling side of my patch, although I've heard them 'purring' in Oaken Woods before. An amazing 32x Collared Doves, 2x Stock Doves and 18x Wood Pigeons also took flight - the Collared Doves weighing down a near-by wire!


15x Pied wagtails were seen in the paddocks, but no Wheatears or Whinchats this time.

Good numbers of Linnets and Yellowhammers and a single Chiffchaff and Whitethroat plumped up the hedgerows.


The day finished with a fantastic sky - a crescent prism and then a brooding sunset.

Monday 19th April

Back on patch today after a 2 week holiday - and what a difference.  Blossom everywhere, the first Bluebells emerging and some new patch/walk-in ticks...and not just for the year!  Walking from Barming to East Malling on my usual route I was suprised to hear a Nuthatch calling as I approached the allotments at the top of North Street, Barming.  What's unusual about that I hyear you say - well I've never seen a Nuthatch in Barming in the 5 years I've lived there!  There's plenty of suitable habitat, but I've just never seen or heard them.  It got better - as I approached the track I saw not one, but two birds calling loudly to each other and chasing each around an oak.  A GS Woodpecker was equally vocal and joined in the chase - fighting over a nest hole?! 

Moving on a couple of Chiffchaffs called along Gallagher's Gallop and a Song Thrush sang from alongside the quarry.  Then my second new tick for my 'walk-in' route - a lone Greylag Goose flying low west.  As I approached the underpass a couple of Blackcaps could be heard, with one bird showing briefly - a new patch tick for the year.  A male Bullfinch also called.  The Little Owl was in his usual spot at Kiln Barn Farm, and just a bit further on a couple of Swallows (another patch tick for the year!) sat on the wires near Kiln Barn Cottages.  I'd seen loads of these in Cornwall, but always reassuring to see them back on patch!  A couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls sat out on Kiln Field (just west of the East Malling Conference Centre).

At lunchtime I paid a brief visit to the Paris Farm paddocks, East Malling, hoping for a migrant.  A couple of Stock Doves sat out on land at the back of East Malling church with a crowd of Wood Pigeons.  A GS Woodpecker drummed away from within a nest hole near the railway crossing and a Coal Tit flitted around the pines at the east end of the railway station.  No migrants were seen in the paddocks, only a Mistle Thrush hoped around on the turf, and a Peacock butterfly basked in the sun.

Thursday 18th March

Still no migrants despite it feeling positively barmy!  Five Jays were seen on the bike ride in from Barming to East Malling.  A couple of Stock Doves were on the pasture opposite Gallagher's underpass, joined by 26 Black-headed Gulls, five Common Gull and six Herring Gulls.  The Little Owl skulked on the roof of the outbuilding of Kiln Barn Farm cattle shed - can you pick it out in the photo below (click to enlarge if it helps)?

  Here's a clue.....

Friday 26th February

A windy but sunny day - a couple of good sightings (for me) on the way into work - five Lesser Black-backed Gull on the field in the field at the back of Kiln Barn Farm, Ditton, an uncommon visitor on the deck on my patch.  Better still - 43 (forty-three) Stock Doves, I've struggled to get double figures so this was species, so this was a real result.  Viewing them en masse I was struck by how glaucous they're plummage looked.

 Down to Bradbourne, East Malling (private site) at lunchtime.  The wind was rippling the leaf-strewn surface of the lake, and I was was rewarded with yet another duck tick - a pair of Gadwall - not a new one for site but my first for this year and only my second for site.  A couple of Mute Swans which had been noticeable by their abscence had returned.  Even better was to come as I struggled against the wind at the end of my lunch break, I stopped off at one of the plots and flushed eighteen (yes, one eight - 18) Skylarks, out of a Miscanthus test plot.  They took flight in 3 groups, all flappy, nice white sides to tail feather and a few bits of subsong as they lifted, circled and then dropped down in the adjacent wheat stubble.  Five Yellowhammers, inc 2 males, were also present as well seven hen Pheasants.  I've often had a small group of five Skylarks near my strawberry plots this winter, but 18 is a new record for me.

Friday 5th February

This bird had me going for all of a couple of seconds this morning. I'd been scanning across the pasture just south of the railway bridge on Kiln Barn Road, Ditton - noting 5 Blackbirds when this little beauty dropped down onto a fence post and then onto the grass. A Blackbird with a dash of white - Ring Ouzel? Surely not in Kent in February? Of course not, just a Blackbird but an interesting one nevertheless. The photo doesn't show it too well but there's a clear white, albeit narrow, band just under the bird's 'chin' but no white on the on the opposite wing of the bird . Of course within a second I knew what it was, wrong shape, size, bill, stance, no broad chest crescent, but it doesn't stop me living in hope, a Ring Ouzel on the patch is long overdue. Elsewhere, an army of Fieldfares hopped across the pasture by Kiln Barn Farm and a record 14x Stock Doves picked through the freshly manured field on the other side of the track.

Monday 25th January

Spent lunchtime on a short training run around East Malling/Barming Woods. 12x Stock Dove seen on Gallagher's Gallop field, and then a couple of Voleries of Bullfinch (2, 3) and a small Gallup of Lesser Redpolls in an area I've not recorded these species before. So my fitness levels and the BTO Atlas both benefit from that little trip out!

Wednesday 20th January

Three Bullfinches in there somewhere!

A quiet day with nothing ordinary seen on the walk from Barming to East Malling. The flock of Stock Doves and Common Gulls had increased in number, 10 and 12 respectively. A glance into the cattle barn at Kiln Barn Farm saw the Little Owl exit! Ditton Quarry was equally desrted during a 30 minute sortie at lunchtime, a group of 5 Bullfinches entertained me for a short while, the repetitive 'teacher-teacher' call of the Great Tits started to grate!

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.