January roundup

Lade - mild, grey, drizzle, e 2 - These past couple of days have been pretty much of a muchness with singles of Slavonian Grebe and Smew still on station on the local patch, along with the odd Goosander coming and going.
Dungeness - Amongst the blizzard of gulls on the Patch this morning were the two long-staying 1st winter Iceland Gulls, the drake Eider and a Mediterranean Gull. The visibility was too poor for a seawatch. On the bird reserve the usual Smew and Slavonian Grebe on New Diggings, Ring-necked Duck at Boulderwall but little else of note, although I did count 820 Cormorants on Burrowes.
  And so January ends with 120 species of birds accumulated within the borders of the Romney Marsh. Looking through the list (not that I`m much of a lister...) its interesting to see the birds we`ve missed this month. Barn Owl, Bittern and Hen Harrier have somehow eluded us and, unsurprisingly, not a single partridge was noted. Sea duck have been few and far between, while Black Redstart and finches such as Redpoll, Siskin and Brambling were absent.