Tuesday 21 June 2016

Cattle Egret

Dengemarsh - mild, misty, cloudy, brighter later, sw 2-4 - A grim start to the day at a saturated Dengemarsh following yesterdays deluge. On the lake there was loads of feral geese and swans, Cormorants, gulls, Common Terns and grebes and wildfowl. From Springfield Bridge we watched a male Marsh Harrier bring in a large prey item that looked like a Rabbit, which the female eagerly claimed in a mid-air food pass. Reed Buntings, Bearded Tits, Reed, Cetti`s and Sedge Warblers were all busily feeding fledged young in the reedbeds, while both Tree Sparrow and Yellow Wagtail flew over calling.
  The hayfields are now thick with herbaceous growth and of little use for passage waders with only limited amounts of open water; infact its so overgrown a Spoon-billed Sandpiper could easily go undetected, now there`s a thought... However, back to reality, and on No. 3 a Redshank and Lapwing were fretting as though young were nearby, alongside a few Oystercatchers, Shelducks, Grey Herons and Little Egrets. At the back of the hayfield, in amongst the cows, we had brief views of an adult Cattle Egret, now in its third day at Dengemarsh. On hayfield 2 a couple of Hobbies sat on posts looking fed up with the drizzle; with the solstice now upon us we could do with a settled period for the breeding birds` sake alone.
New Romney - Up to four Common Buzzards were soaring over the northern outskirts of town around midday, once the sun broke through, along with two Sparrowhawks,

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