Mild, overcast, SW 4-5 - There really hasn`t been much change to the birdlife hereabouts since my last post, as is often the case during the in between month of February with one foot in winter and the other looking towards spring. Having said that the divers are still on the bird reserve, along with five Cattle Egrets and a Glossy Ibis, while the wild swans remain on Walland Marsh where at least two Hen Harriers are present. Visits to Lade pits yielded a first Great White Egret of the year last Friday but little else in the brisk westerly. A couple of walks along the beach at Dungeness by the fishing boats yielded the usual comings and goings of Red-throated Divers, gulls and auks, plus a party of 50 Brent Geese heading up-Channel yesterday.
There have been one or two hints of spring during our daily Ted walks around New Romney where the borderlands of town have been the most productive with at least four Song Thrushes holding territory and regular sightings of Kestrel and Green Woodpecker. A two-dimensional Toad on a lane was further evidence of the continuing mild weather and a herald of spring. The dry weather has seen the `custodians of the countryside` out in force spraying the arable lands up to the margins and as a result few farmland birds have been noted apart from the odd Skylark and Yellowhammer; how they manage to survive is a mystery to me. However, the snowdrops and daffodils are in bloom around town and it won`t be long now until the first migrants start to push up from the south.
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