January 1st
Matt picked me up just after 0700 and we drove to our ringing site at Reculver where we recorded 1 Grey Heron, 3 Little Egrets, 4 Tufted Ducks, 1 Mallard, 2 Fieldfares, 12 Mute Swans, 1 Common Buzzard, 1 Peregrine, 2 Chiffchaffs, 1 Green Woodpecker, 1 Jay, 1 Kingfisher, 2 Stonechats, 1 Common Whitethroat, obviously the injured bird we ringed in November still surviving, 2 Green Sandpipers and 1 Grey Wagtail.
From Reculver we drove over to Shuart and saw 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 17 Linnets, 4 Mistle Thrushes, 1 Bullfinch, 2 Long-tailed Tits, 1 Woodcock, 4 Goldcrests, 5 Ring-necked Parakeets, 2 Chiffchaffs, 1 Barn Owl and 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker.
Our next stop was Minnis Bay in the hope of seeing some waders and seabirds. In the event we counted 8 Gannets, 6 Great Crested Grebes, 3 Eider, 4 Gadwall W, 450 Cormorants, 110 Grey Plovers, 10 Turnstone, 23 Red-throated Divers, 120 Oystercatchers, 20 Brent Geese, 16 Shelduck, 150 Dunlin, 1 Curlew, 24 Sanderling and a Merlin flying in off the sea and being dive bombed by the local Herring Gulls.
This afternoon we walked from Chamber's Wall to Coldharbour where we saw 12 Corn Buntings, 3 Yellowhammers, 3 Stonechats, 57 Fieldfares, 80 Brent Geese, 10 Redwings, 1 Marsh Harrier, 10 Skylarks, 1 Little Egret, 2 Little Grebes, 5 Redshank, 1 Ringed Plover and 9 Snow Buntings.
Matt and I ended the day having seen 83 species.
Marc Heath and Julian and Alex Perry were also out today and in addition to what we saw recorded Teal, Wigeon, Shoveler, Snipe, Sparrowhawk, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit and Tawny Owl taking the January 1st total to 92 species.