The Reed Bunting above is one of at least four now frequenting our garden.

Up until at least the mid-1980s,there was a regular roost of Reed Buntings in one of the reed filled ditches at New Hythe.Several ringing sessions were held each year during 1979,1980 and 1983.In all I had four recoveries,as follows -

ringed (young female) 24 10 79 Hall Wood,Fairseat,Wrotham,kent.
controlled 01 03 80 New Hythe,Kent.9KM SE 129 days.

ringed (adult female) 31 01 79 New Hythe,Kent.
controlled 24 10 79 Hall Wood,Fairseat,Wrotham,kent.9KM NW 207 days.

ringed (adult female) 01 03 80 New Hythe,Kent.
found dead 24 11 80 Fobbing,Essex.26KM N 268 days.

ringed (young male) 30 09 79 Hall Wood,Fairseat,Wrotham,Kent
controlled 02 11 80 New Hythe,kent.

A Reed Bunting ringed at New Hythe as a second year male on the 31 01 93,was controlled at Icklesham,Sussex,on the 24 09 93 49KM SW 236 days.

I have only handled a small number of Reed Buntings at Leysdown (Coastal Park) Kent,but so far I have had four recoveries,as follows.

ringed young (female) 12 10 91 Leysdown,Kent
controlled 09 08 95 Kroon`s Polder,Vlieland,Netherlands 345KM NE 1397 days.

ringed adult (male) 16 09 92 Leysdown,Kent.
controlled 30 10 93 Blankenberge,Belgium,153KM E 409 days.

ringed young (male) 23 09 93 Leysdown,Kent
controlled 28 10 93 Icklesham,Sussex, 57KM SW 35 days.

ringed young (male) 16 10 99 Leysdown.Kent
controlled 25 09 01 Faversham,Kent 6KM SE 710 days.


The vast majority of British Reed Buntings stay within Britain.However small numbers of Scandinavian birds winter in Britain and rather more pass down the east coast to wintering grounds in France and the Low countries.

January 2nd (Paddlesworth)

Just before mid-day Jeanette and I had a walk across the fields at Paddlesworth (which are at the foot of the North Downs),only about one mile from our house.The fields during the summer were sown with Rape but as yet the fields havn`t been turned over, so are now full of weeds.It was nice to see at least 40 Skylark,60+Linnet and 2 Reed Buntings taken advantage.Other birds noted were - Rook 50,Carrion Crows and a flock of at least 200 domesticated Pigeon,a Green Woodpecker called from the trees along the Downs.

A GOOD START TO THE NEW YEAR.

8:30am-10:30 clear and cold,light covering of sleet.The New Year got of to a good start with a red-head Smew on the Railway lake.
Full list of birds recorded - Goldfinch,Greenfinch 2,Chaffinch,Lesser Redpoll 8,Blackbird,Song Thrush,Redwing,Great Tit,Blue Tit,Carrion Crow,Jackdaw,B h Gull,Herring Gull,L B B Gull,Common Gull,Redshank,Heron,Robin Dunnock,Wren,Magpie,Wood Pigeon,Stock Dove 2,Starling 2,G S Woodpecker 1,Green Woodpecker 1,Bullfinch 10,G C Grebe,Little Grebe,Pochard (50+),Shoveler,Teal,Gadwall,Smew,Tufted Duck,Kingfisher 1,Chiffchaff 1,Kestral 1,Collared Dove,Mute Swan,Canada Goose,Greylag Goose,Jay 2 and Pheasant 1,L L Tit and Goldeneye (46 in Total).

Ken,fancy flushing a Green Sandpiper in the east scrub,the last time I done that was way back in the 80s,it flew into one of my nets,shows how much that area has changed.