Lade - warm, dry and sunny, light airs - With the first days of metrological spring upon us it felt good to hear the first real burst of bird song across the local patch this morning, including Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Stonechat, Reed Bunting, Song Thrush, Goldfinch, Cetti`s Warbler and Chiffchaff. Duck numbers were significantly down since my last visit, although five Goldeneyes remained on south lake. Yesterday, a circuit of Dungeness delivered the usual resident species on the land, plus a few dabbling ducks past the fishing boats, most notably Pintail and Shoveler, plus a Sandwich Tern and 40 roosting Sanderlings on the beach by the lifeboat station. The wetlands at Boulderwall looked in fine condition and should prove attractive to passage waders as the spring progresses, while two Firecrest were noted in the willow scrub by ARC car park. At Cockles Bridge the egret flock was present in the sheep fold along with the Whooper Swans in the field opposite.
I`ve just finished my two winter projects. The first one was to go through my bird logs dating back to 1968 and decide what to do with them (still mulling that one over...), and secondly to build 20 more nest boxes for the fast-declining Tree Sparrows at Scotney (if there are any trees left to put them on!) and tits across Dungeness. Thanks, in advance to Owen, Jacob and Miles for erecting them this month.
