February 26th (GARDEN WAXWINGS)

Waxwings at last,six birds sitting in our rowan tree,peering down at the apples which I have been putting out as bait since November 2012.Everything was looking good,my garden net was already in place,my heart was thumping,then gone----a passing car spooked them---damn.
Will they return,not yet at least,its now 1400 and they were in the garden for all of forty five seconds around 1100.

PAST TIMES (1982)

February 22nd.Burham marsh - saw a flock of one hundred Snipe flying about,also saw two Bearded Tits in the reed-bed

Leybourne -(1) Black-throated Diver,(1) Kingfisher, (1) drake Pintail,(10) Gadwall,(1) red-head Goldeneye  and (1) Green Sandpiper seen.

February 21st.

Blackcap (Praha,bird)

Reed Bunting (female)

I had my small garden net up for a while first thing and re trapped the (PRAHA,Czech) Blackcap (male),which I first controlled on December 30th 2012.Its been seen to feed on Ivy berries,fat balls and apples,its w.t. was a healthy 19.1 grams.
I continue to have up to ten Reed Buntings feeding in the garden and re trapped one the other day from February 2010.

Smew (red-heads)

Cold,easterly,occasional sleet flurries (0:9am-10:30).(New Hythe).

The Herons were performing well this morning and I could see four occupied nests.Good numbers of Gadwall continue to frequent Abbey Mead and today they were joined by twenty Teal,which had probably flown over from the river,a Kingfisher was also seen.
A Little Egret was feeding along the Mill Stream and at the northern end of the Streamside lake two red-head Smew were present.I also saw several Goldcrests,one Chiffchaff,two Lesser Redpoll and six Siskin.