March 12th (New Hythe)

Last night at the KOS meeting (birds of Spain) Terry Laws told me he had found a Whooper Swan on Abbey Mead lake during the morning,he had also seen a Peregrine and Little Egret in the area.I couldn`t get out until this afternoon but I quickly located the bird on the streamside lake and managed to get extremely close,so I would presume its the same bird that turned up in the area last year.

Although I didn`t see the Peregrine I did see the Little Egret flying over towards the scrape area and also noted that Coot numbers have fallen a lot over the past week or more along with Tufted Duck and Gadwall.

March 10th (Cuxton,river and pools)

mainly overcast,bitterly cold northeast - 13-00-1400.river low - birds noted - Oystercatcher 2,Shelduck 12,Redshank 36,B H Gull 60,Common Gull 2 and Cormorant 3.
pools - since my last visit the water level is back to normal and the pools and dykes have regained their muddy edges - birds noted - L B B Gull 2,B H Gull 80,Herring Gull 4,Common Gull 2,Redshank 6,Mallard 6,Teal 4,Little Grebe 1 and the continued presence of the Greenshank.

March 6th (Great Bustards and Red Kites)