Tuesday 8 February, one of very few fine days this winter saw me doing the BTO atlas survey again around Newchurch, beautiful day, a pleasure just to be out and about, not so well wrapped up this time!
Counted 163 birds of 27 species, compared with 161 of 21 species in December
Not much change from the early visit, as you can see
The main difference is the water level in the Brenzett sewer, which has obviously been reduced in anticipation of "February fill-dyke" - the tideline of debris which can be seen here is a good metre above the water today
I wondered why these trees are dead and as they are growing from the roadsite ditch then salt incursion via the marsh drainage system could be a possibility even tho' it is 10 miles or so from the Willop outfall at Dymchurch
This is a mature drainage ditch and is likely to be cleared, or "brished" before long to maintain the required flow of water - it will be home to lots of Reed and Sedge Warblers come the summer
This one just been done - don't despair, its been going on for years and the wildlife value which, it must be said, is secondary, will soon recover
No caption necessary - aahhh!
It was as stodgy as before, too, you can see where I trailed across this lot - hard work! By way of compensation I took my sandwiches to the ARC pit at Dunge and was delighted to see the Smew, or Smoo as the late Peter Makepeace used to call them - lousy pics but they were on the opposite side of the pit
The count was as follows
Carrion Crow -16
Mallard - 8
Grey Heron - 2 ; I shall be counting them again in April, no doubt at Lympne Heronry
Skylark - 12, some were singing, lovely
Lapwing - 2
Wren - 4
Green Woodpecker - 1
Jackdaw- 1
Woodpigeon - 35
Chaffinch - 15
Great Tit - 6
Robin - 8
Blackbird - 10
Blue Tit - 10
Dunnock - 1
Collared Dove - 1
Magpie - 1
House Sparrow - 12
Yellowhammer - 1
Reed Bunting - 6
Pied Wagtail - 1
Pheasant - 2
Song Thrush - 2
Sparrowhawk - 2
Mute Swan - 2
Common Gull - 1
Starling 1
i can see your smew ok peter
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