Wednesday 9th February 2011

Highlights of the cycle in this morning (Barming to East Malling Research via Oaken Wood): 2x Jay, GS Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Bullfinch, 2x Green Woodpecker, Little Owl, 2x Kestrel and 15x Lesser Redpoll.  Not bad for 15 minutes!

I spent my lunch hour studying the Reed Buntings on the Miscanthus plot on the Research station.  They're such a rare visitor on patch I thought I'd make the most of them.  Their numbers had doubled from yesterday's estimate, I reckoned on 26+ today but they were so in erratic in flight, twisting and looping and then quickly dropping down to the ground that I couldn't keep count.  I only managed the count of 26 by scanning the birds that had dropped down on top of a windbreak.

A couple of Yellowhammers were also in with them, easily picked out by their bright yellow heads.  Miscanthus must really be a home from home for these birds, but with very little in the way of seed heads I can't see what they're sustaining themselves on?

Josie and Kieron, thanks for your comments, I've replied to you, see comments at the end of the 30th January and 8th February posts respectively.  Kieron keep up the good work with the blog, let me have any records you've got from Offham between November-now and I can enter them on the BTO Atlas website to fill in some of those gaps!

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.

Sunday 25th July 2010

A Hedgehog returned to the garden last night and 5+ Silver Y moths were caught feeding in the security light that beamed on to the Verbena bonarensis.  I seem to be seeing these everywhere, along with Red Admirals, definetly a recent influx.

I visited Wouldham briefly this morning to see if I couldn't catch up with one or more of the seals that have been hauling themselves out on to the mud at low tide.  There was evidence they'd be there (I later learnt 2 had slipped into the water at 08:00, an hour before I arrived), but I was content with 2x Turtle Dove, 3x Common Sandpiper, 1x Little Egret, 10+ Lapwing.

Back at home in Barming I was suprised to find a Whitethroat in my lean-to!  A first for both my house list and after I had eventually captured it, for my garden list!

Later in the afternoon I visited Igtham Mote with my parents - a Lancaster Bomber overhead, a very worn White Admiral and a Pied Wagtail visiting a nest high up in the main building. 

The lanes back to my parents cottage near Chart Sutton were alive with House Sparrows, Linnets and Yellowhammers and returning along the same lane near Church Hill, Boughton Monchelsea at dusk I was pleased to have a Barn Owl flying ahead of me.

Sunday 13th June

Yellowhammer in the garden in Barming and Cuckoo calling nearby - all good stuff!

Friday 21st May

All the usual suspects on the cycle into work - but Linnets and Yellowhammers more noticeable than of late.  A sortie up to the felled areas in Barming Woods turned up a distant Tree Pipit, heard not seen, and good numbers of Willow Warblers.  It was good to see House Marting, 8 in total, prospecting sites around the East Malling Research main laboratory buildings - they've been around since Tuesday.  Pleasing to see a few more than last year.

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 15th January

The big thaw has set in and much of the snow from Wednesday and before was thawing quickly. The Redpolls in South Street didn't show this morning - the thaw probably opening up other feeding opportunities. However a Pied Wagtail flew from the roof of The Bull pub, the first I'd seen in Barming since November! A dead Blue Tit was found by the water tower off North Street, it was still warm, not sure if it had finally succumbed to the cold? Some snow remained along the path by Gallagher's gallop and I was uprised to see Badger tracks - they're often evident on the research land but I never seen any signs of Badger on this part of the patch. Nice find, nothing else out of the ordinary on the way in. Later my boss told me he'd had 20+ Lapwing in a field near Bradbourne House and a couple of Yellowhammers (which ahve been noticeable by their abscence this winter).

Tuesday 8th December

A Mute Swan flying above the River Medway valley was the first of 27 species I clocked up on my walk into work this morning. Other 'extras' included a flyover Cormorant and both Herring and Common Gull amongst the Black-headed Gulls by Gallagher's Gallop. A couple of large flocks of Fieldfares were seen with a flock of c80 near Kiln Barn Farm and another flock of c120 on approach to the research station. Redwings were seen in small groups all along the route.

Over the Quarry at lunchtime and a couple of mega species for the quarry in the form a Yellowhammer and Skylark, both very difficult species to pick up here despite being relatively common on the adjacent research station. Only 3 Lesser Redpolls today, how the flock has reduced over the last week.

Saturday 31st October

A brief jaunt out with my youngest this afternoon, visting the area around Hall Park Farm, Barming. I've not been along this footpath for a few months so was pleased to see Skylark, 7x Yellowhammer, 4x Meadow Pipits, melanistic Pheasant and best of all for me, a Common Buzzard picking over the carcass of a 'Sparrowhawked' feral pigeon. This is only my second record of Common Buzzard in Barming and most probably the same individual I saw about 6 weeks ago in nearby Teston. It was reassuring to see some farmland stalwarts, especially after reading about the continued decline in their numbers in the recently published 'State of birds of Britain, 2008'. The local farmer who usually leaves winter stubble has ploughed half his field bordering St Margaret's church, but has left a good area of set-aside. It's attracted 30+ Black-headed Gulls and a number of crows, but hopefully will continue to hold all the aforementioned species.