Wednesday 2 January 2013

And a Happy New Year to You Too (2)




The sun came out (and stayed) on the first day of 2013. A reasonably early start contributed only a few species to the new year list, and the scoters were too far offshore to distinguish. Eight Stumpies were on the pier, however.

Next up Sandwich Bay, and I don't know if this grey partridge was more welcome than the good chat and cuppa at the observatory. Or the mince pie.
Through Pfizer with an eye open for waxwings....... but all I saw was this mistle thrush admiring itself in the reflective window.

A garbled shout of "waxwings!" at the roadside....... ten feeding on hips and twittering nicely. They haven't all gone to Sussex then.

Little at Pegwell due to late arrival and a very high tide, so inland to Seaton Pits for duck. A lovely place in the winter sunshine, and a pleasing addition of goldcrest and little egret.



And then on to Stodmarsh for the setting of the sun, and a great close view of a ringtail hen harrier, flying out of the reeds by the path. Redwings and fieldfares piled in across the lake and on to their roost, and strange noises emerged from the marsh..... squealing water rails, pinging beardies, strident Cetti's and unidentified contact calls.



Since announcing the winding up of Kingsdowner I have been inundated by an email, so I'll keep it going for a little longer, while setting up another slightly different blog (as if the world needs more) and changing the old posts to a more Kingsdown-related display.

May the sun shine through 2013 for you.





5 comments:

Steve Gale said...

I had no doubts that Kingsdowner would live on - just don't threaten us with its demise again Steve! May Mel and yourself have a good 2013.

Serena said...

Excellent news! Hope you have a happy new year.

Marc Heath said...

A nice start to the year and it looks good for a Grey Partridge to me.

Phil Smith said...

Hi Steve/Mel happy new year stodmarsh looks very, well, marshy?

Duncan said...

Sounds like that was a lovely day out.

This blog is a regular reminder for me of the wonderful 'natural history' we can find in East Kent - it does get me out of the house in body as well as in spirit. Still, the previous post suggests you have stuff to do on the 'hyper-local' front too - best of luck with that.