August 29th (New Hythe)

Light overcast,NW 8:30am-10am.

Walking around the lakes this morning I got the impression that many of the summer visitors have already moved out,unless of course it was just the dreaded NW wind. For instance I saw no Blackcaps or Willow Warblers and only ones and twos of Chiffchaff,Reed Warbler,Lesser and Common Whitethroat.The total species count was (33).Birds of note seen were - Teal (5) along the river and Linnet (1) near the sunken marsh.

During the afternoon Jeanette and I had a walk around Ranscomb Farm,Cuxton.Very little was seen in the way of birds apart from a flock of 20 Linnets and one Hobby.

August 28th (Halling Common)

Clear and bright,light NW.8:30-10:am.

Birds of note during this mornings walk on the Common were Hobby (1) Kingfisher (1) Linnet (2) Stock Dove (1) Stonechat (1) Whinchat (2) Common Whitethroat (2) Lesser Whitethroat (1) Chiffchaff (1) Yellowhammer (1) Willow Warbler (1) Swallow 40,House Martin 20 and Sand Martin 15.The adult Common Seal was seen again on the west bank.

The Spotted Flycatcher (below) was photographed during the afternoon along Robin Hood Lane (above Burham),it was one of three.Spotted Flycatchers are very difficult to see in this part of Kent now and to find one is always a bonus.

August 24th (Halling Common)

Clear and bright with a brisk SW wind.8:30am-10:am (river low).

Although I had a rather low species count of only 29 birds I did see two birds of note,Stonechat and Whinchat,firsts for this autumn.The adult Common Seal was also seen again.

Full list of birds seen - Canada Goose (15),Mallard (4) Moorhen (2) Little Egret (2) B H Gull (100+) Common Gull (4) Herring Gull (40) G B B Gull (3) Carrion Crow (6) Jackdaw (4) Magpie (8) Starling (15) Swallow (2) Blue Tit (6) Goldfinch (8) Yellowhammer (2) Common Whitethroat (2) Robin (1) Wood Pigeon (20) Collared Dove (6) Greenfinch (2) Chaffinch (2) Blackbird (1) Stonechat (1) Whinchat (1) Reed Bunting (1) Kestral (1) Dunnock (1) and Green Woodpecker (1).

August 23rd (New Hythe)

mainly overcast with a light drizzle,clearing at times.8:am-10:am.

Very little of note this morning apart from 5 Teal along the river,the first since May.

August 19th (New Hythe)

I was ringing in the east scrub between 5.30am-8.30 am (1x30ft) it was clear and calm.

Birds ringed - Blackcap 2,Blue Tit 4,Great Tit 1,Common Whitethroat 1,L T Tit 2 and Chiffchaff 4.I had 1 re trap (Blue Tit) it was ringed in the east scrub as a adult male on 31-07-09.

Birds seen - G S Woodpecker 1,Green Woodpecker 2,Willow Warbler 1,Song Thrush 1,Lesser Whitethroat 3,Goldfinch 8,Chaffinch 5,Greenfinch 8,Nightingale 2 and Redstart 1 (female).The latter bird was seen in the small Oak on the edge of the track which runs between the east and west scrub areas.

During the afternoon 3 Common Buzzards were seen over the Downs at Wouldham.

August 11th and 13th (New Hythe)

During the week I had two ringing sessions in the east scrub between 0530-0830.On the 11th I trapped (16) birds and on the 13th (15) - Common Whitethroat 5,Wren 1,Lesser Whitethroat 3,Blackcap 1,Cetti`s Warbler 1,Chaffinch 1,Blackbird 3,Great Tit 5,Blue Tit 4,L T Tit 2,Garden Warbler 1,Dunnock 1,Chiffchaff 2 and Willow Warbler 1.

I also re trapped two L T Tits,both birds had been ringed in the east scrub,one on 16-09-08 and the other on 02-08-09.

August 9th.

A Hobby was seen flying west over my garden at 2.30pm.

August 8th (Sandwich Bay)

I spent the morning ringing,like last weekend the wind was rather strong (northwest) so all the nets were set again in the Whitehouse bushes where they are more protected.Birds ringed Robin 1,Blackbird 2,Reed Warbler 6,Sedge Warbler 2,Garden Warbler 3,Wren 1 and Willow Warbler 30.

August 6th (New Hythe)

I had one net up in the west scrub between 6.am-9.am - 4 birds were trapped Willow Warbler 1,Common Whitethroat 1,Reed Warbler 1 and Nightingale 1,all were young birds.

PAST TIMES (AUGUST 1980)

WILDFOWL Barnacle Goose 2 at New Hythe 28th, Canada Goose 100 at New Hythe 29th,Pochard 1 Abbey Mead 10th,Tufted Duck 50 Abbey Mead 10th.WADERS Green Sandpiper 2 at New Hythe 16th,Lapwing 250 at Burham 30th.TERNS Comic Tern 29 over New Hythe SW 15th,Black Tern 1 Abbey Mead 7th.STOCK DOVE 30 at Burham 30th.COMMON SWIFT 2 at New Hythe 30th.L S Woodpecker 1 Eccles island during the month.WAGTAILS Pied Wagtail 100 at the Holborough marsh roost 17th,Yellow Wagtail fewer than 10 at the Holborough marsh roost 17th.

August 3rd (Halling Common)

During the early afternoon I had a walk out on Halling Common.By then there was more cloud but it remained bright and warm,the river was low.I met Ken (Halling Blog) and suggested we looked along the river to see if the Common Seal was in its favourite spot.We were both very pleased to find not one but two,its pup was also hauled out on the bank.I had heard that the adult had a pup but this was the first time I had actually seen it.

Birds were rather thin on the ground but I did see - Yellowhammer 1,Meadow Pipit 1 and Green Woodpecker 1,plus the usual Gulls.

August 3rd (New Hythe)

I was ringing this morning in the west scrub between 6.am-9.30am,birds ringed - Blue Tit 6,Great Tit 10,Willow Warbler 1,Chiffchaff 1,Reed Warbler 1,all were young birds.I had one retrap a young Great Tit ringed in the west scrub on the 22 -06-10.

Birds seen - Great spotted Woodpecker 1,Green Woodpecker 1,Reed Warbler 2,Willow Warbler 3,Nightingale 4,Chiffchaff 2,Goldfinch 40 and Common Sandpiper 1,the latter of which was on the edge of the scrub in the diver`s car park,a very unusual place to see one.

August 2nd (New Hythe)

My walk around New Hythe this morning was very quite the only bird of note being a purring Turtle Dove in the sunken marsh and I heard just two birds in song a Blackcap and a Song Thrush.

July 31st (Sandwich Bay)

I spent the morning and early afternoon ringing,due to a moderate SW wind all the nets were set in the Whitehouse bushes where they are more protected.There was another fall of Willow Warblers although it was smaller than the one that occurred earlier in the week.Apart from Willow Warblers we also trapped two Garden Warbler,one Blackcap,several Tits and one Blackbird.Unfortunately the Wood Warbler that had been in the area for the past few days had appeared to have moved on. The falls of Willlow Warblers at Sandwich are probably the best for many years and hopefully show signs of an upward trend (there was another fall of 100 on August 1st).

I looked in on scrape before I left for home and saw - Dunlin 1,Shoveler 8,Teal 3 and Little Grebe 2.

During the afternoon Jeanette and I had a walk along the Downs at Upper Halling where we saw one Peregrine.