Scotney - warm, dry, sunny - Following reports of a Red-necked Grebe yesterday we checked all the gravel pits from Lydd to the Sussex end but could only find Great Crested and Little Grebes. However there was plenty of variety on offer amongst the hundreds of common wildfowl and waders including two Goldeneyes and four Shelducks. The sheep folds by the cycle track attracted a large flock of Lapwings plus six Redshanks, five Curlews and a Ruff. Out back a Green Sandpiper flew along a farm ditch while hundreds more Lapwings and Golden Plovers took flight, spooked by several Common Buzzards and Marsh Harriers. It was good to see a few Corn and Reed Buntings, Skylarks and Mipits in the field margins.
On the way home we checked out the fields at Boulderwall where all was quiet apart from ten Curlews and a large flock of Wigeons. The usual harriers and egrets came and went while the Ring-necked Duck looked settled on Cook`s Pool. On Burrowes, Smew and Goosander were both present.
Elsewhere, the roosting Long-eared Owl has been seen on and off behind the Dipping pond and up to 17 Bewick`s Swans are present of the fields at Horses Bones Farm near Lydd.
Following a great evening of beer and song in the Star at St-Mary`s-in-the-Marsh last night (with the newly formed Romney Marsh Morris) a Barn Owl flew over the lane as we approached New Romney on the way back to the coast.
Warm, dry, sunny - are you living on another planet? Here in North Kent we have another mild, misty, very damp, gloomy, not fully light till 8.00 and almost dark by 3.45 day. Been like this forever.
ReplyDeleteThe Marsh is often referred to as the `Fifth Continent` and Dungeness does seem to have its own weather system at times. Also, the shingle makes for a dry atmosphere and these past few days, what with the lack of wind, I`ve been birding without a winter coat on, long may it continue!
ReplyDeleteLucky you, and this morning on the marsh again, it was dense fog and dampness.
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