Rye Harbour NR - mild, rain, light airs - Had to go to Rye this morning so we decided to take Ted along and do the circular walk around the Beach Reserve first, in the rain... (by the way, anyone planning to visit Rye from this neck of the woods would be well advised NOT to use the coast road as it is badly pot-holed and broken up in places, particularly around Camber). However, I`m ashamed to admit it that this was my first visit of the year to the harbour, but despite the weather we could take shelter in the dog-friendly hides and still enjoy the multitude of shorebirds and wildfowl on offer; it was also good to see that the bird information in the hides was bang up to date. Well done to all concerned. Twelve species of waders were noted including 20 Avocets, 200 Dunlins, 100 Golden Plovers and a Black-tailed Godwit. The Flat Beach hosted most of the waders along with hundreds of Shovelers, Gadwalls, Wigeons and Pintails, Little and Great White Egrets, Little and Great Crested Grebes, Great White and Little Egrets, plus 20 Shelducks, singing Skylarks and five Brent Geese. We can also recommend the coffee and cake from the cafe, while a sausage roll met with Ted`s approval!
Elsewhere these past few days we`ve noticed increasing numbers of Mediterranean Gulls on the turf fields around New Romney, singing Chiffchaffs at two locations and Yellowhammers also in song. A visit to Lade yesterday yielded four Goldeneyes and two Marsh Harriers. News from the bird reserve today confirmed that the divers and ibis are still present, while singles of Swallow, Black Redstart and Firecrest were reported across the peninsula on Monday, heralding the coming spring, and a Scaup was at Scotney pits.
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