More Weather

Lade - mild, wet and windy, sw 6 - The past couple of days have been more about the weather than birds as strong winds and heavy rain sweep in off the Atlantic making for difficult birding locally.
On the way back from Folkestone yesterday, together with CP, we checked out Brockhill Country Park for a recently reported Marsh Tit (how desperate is that...) which we failed to find. However, Grey Wagtail, Long-tailed Tits, Goldcrest, Jay and Common Buzzard were noted along with hundreds of Jackdaws around the park.
  At the Willop Basin, Dymchurch a scan for 2 Velvet Scoters on the bay drew a blank, although we did see Guillemot, Razorbill, Kittiwakes and several Great Crested Grebes. The flooded fields opposite harboured a few gulls and 5 Curlews.
  The weirdest sight on the local patch was an `island` of reeds that had become detached from the bank, drifting across north lake.

For those of you not familiar with the superb Ploddingbirder blog, and in need of a birding pick-me-up in these gloomy January days, check out the latest ruby-throated pictorial post from Holland, you will not be disappointed - and I`m not talking gulls either!: www.ploddingbirder.blogspot.co.uk