Winter

0900 - 1100  initially sunny but clouding over to cold....

No frost at home in Pembury....but plenty to go round from Five Oak Green to the pits...!...

Walking out across the orchard it was again quiet in the orchard apart from some Woodpigeons and a few Tits.....as last time the better bird action was at the tree line on the northern side of the orchard....Fieldfares, Redwings, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Goldfinch....the thrushes were spooked by a slow flyby from a Sparrowhawk that wasn't interested in them at all....must have already had a good breakfast....

Across the fields the mixed Skylark/Meadow Pipit flock was around 35 birds.....I found the Grey Wagtail in the ditch on the way back.

At the West Pit it was also quieter than it had been.....now that the Black-necked Grebe has gone its down to the Goldeneye to keep up the birding interest....one female there.  Probably the highlight actually was the presence of 2 Lapwings standing on the bank on the south side of the pit.  For may places this would be a normal bird, but for here its pretty good...although over the years there have been up to 200 or so in the south field or flying over....and one pair successfully breeding a couple of years ago....to get a couple roosting is very nice....a Water Rail called from Hidden Pit area.

Middle pit held one female Goldeneye as well.....a few Black-headed Gulls were there as usual and one Common Gull flew in....

Island pit held most of the Pochard....21 in total for the site....which is a pretty healthy number for here in winter.....very few Shoveler present and no sign of Teal again....

Bullfinches were calling regularly along the field edge opposite the pits as usual.

A nice little visit....maybe the colder weather will bring in a few more bits and pieces.....