Cloudy, dry, light airs - The weather conditions this past week have continued in the same vein, being grey and gloomy with occasional mist and drizzle. Bird of the week for me has been the Woodcock with up to ten flushed from cover (mostly by Ted) across the Dungeness and Lade desert, including four yesterday from a patch of bracken east of the trapping area; it makes you wonder how many more are lurking elsewhere, probably thousands judging by the number (in the hundreds of thousands) that are shot each winter across the country. The overhead passage of finches continues to be poor with only a handful of Bramblings, Siskins and Redpolls heard along with a few Skylarks, Meadow Pipits and Grey Wagtails. We had one decent morning when small flocks of thrushes dropped in around the point comprising mainly Blackbirds and Redwings plus a few Song Thrushes. Robins are the most numerous migrant in the bushes while a few Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests were also present along with the odd Firecrest and a Dartford Warbler by the Kerton Road. On the bird reserve single Slavonian and Black-necked Grebes are still present along with a Red-throated Diver and the usual array of Larus gulls on Burrowes.
During our Ted walks around New Romney this week the highlight has been a couple of Kingfisher sightings along the New Cut (where also a Mink noted) and small groups of Fieldfares by the horse paddocks. The dry weather has seen a flurry of ploughing and drilling activity on the arable lands, attracting some huge and mobile flocks of gulls and corvids. I`ve finally packed away the garden moth trap for the winter after a few blank nights, while an Oak Rustic earlier in the week was new for the site.
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