Bearded Tits

Dengemarsh - warm, dry, sunny, e2 - Another cracking morning to be out and about in the field and perfect for a circuit of Dengemarsh. From Springfield bridge a trickle of overhead Skylarks moved inland while 2 Ravens and a Kestrel noted towards the ranges. On and around the hayfields 100 Lapwings, 8 Curlews and 6 Shelduck, plus several Marsh Harriers, a Peregrine and 2 Stonechats.
  Bearded Tits are undeniably gorgeous birds and while resident around the reedbeds are not always that easy to see, mainly due to the incessant wind hereabouts. Not so today though, as the light airs and warm sunshine encouraged small parties and individuals to feed along the reedbed margins and  atop the phragmites and bulrushes. Stunning views were enjoyed across Dengemarsh along with singing Cetti`s Warblers and Reed Buntings, 2 Bitterns, Water Rail and Kingfisher, plus Stonechat, Goldcrest and Great Tits in the gorse scrub.

                                Bearded Tits, Dengemarsh

  The wet fields at Boulderwall yielded a couple of thousand Lapwings and Golden Plovers, Wigeon and feral geese, 6 White-fronts, 50 Dunlin, 20 Stock Doves, Great White and Little Egrets, while  Marsh Harriers and a Peregrine kept the plovers and ducks on their toes.
  The back track to Lydd through arable land was much quieter delivering very little apart from a few more Reed Buntings and Pied Wagtails, 2 Egyptian Geese and a Black Redstart on the chicken sheds. However, 2 Brown Hares gambolling over an arable field was a rare treat as numbers of this iconic Marsh mammal continue to decline across the flatlands.

                                Egyptian Geese, Dengemarsh