Cold, cloudy, wet, SE4 - This past week has been dominated by the weather and trying to avoid the bands of rain and brisk winds sweeping in off the Atlantic. The farmland around New Romney, Lade, Pirate Springs, Littlestone, Scotney and the reserve have all been visited a couple of times each. The highlights have been several each of Bewick`s Swans (five today) and White-fronted Geese on the fields between Lydd and Horsebones Farm and at the back of the old sand pit amongst hundreds of feral Greylags, Canada and Egyptian Geese and Mute Swans, plus two Black-necked Grebes and an immature Scaup on the main Scotney roadside lake. The expected raptors, gulls (inc Yellow-legged and Caspian Gulls) egrets and wildfowl have been noted on the reserve with ARC being the best spot for Great White Egrets and Bittern sightings, plus up to five Goldeneyes on Lade pits. At low tide eight species of waders and a laggard Sandwich Tern were logged from Littlestone Green last weekend. The Boulderwall Fields re-wetting project is coming on apace with the anti-predator fencing now being installed; next spring should not only benefit breeding Lapwings and Redshanks but also, hopefully, lure in a few passage waders...
