Wednesday 9 March 2016

Heavy overnight rain persisted into the morning, later turning to hefty showers.

In the conditions, I opted out of an early morning patch visit, then a mid morning appointment in nearby Hadlow, made it only possible for a short bit of birding as I walked through the Greenhouse Grounds and across Migrant Alley on the way.

It proved fortunate though, for as I walked through the Greenhouse Grounds, the months first GREY WAGTAIL (54) flew up from a large puddled area. The BLACK HEADED GULL flock was out on the sheep pasture at Migrant Alley where there were now also a flock of sheep with their lambs, another year of these pesky, environment munching animals  :-(  Up above, a pair of BUZZARDS were soaring in the grey skies.

On my walk back, another Buzzard was seen on one of the paddock fence lines - not quite the early Wheatear I was hoping for! Fieldfare were notable only by their absence, but they may have been over on the Ashes Lane Fields, I dont think they would be heading back North on mass quite yet. The KESTREL pair were seen together as I walked back through the Greenhouse Grounds.

March isn't quite going my way at the moment, with all the disruption from ''man flu'' and some poor weather getting in the way. The Grey wagtail recorded today took the March list to 54, which is still three species behind the worst March total recorded. I can reasonably expect the likes of Little Owl, Cormorant and Grey Heron to turn up, plus the first Chiffchaff should arrive this month, so i'll need a few bonus species if I am to get anywhere near the record March total of 71!

No images again  :-(

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