Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Wednesday 12th December

It was a lovely crisp morning today, with a heavy frost covering everything in crystals.


12 Redwing were the first birds to be seen, 4 Great Spotted Woodpeckers made themselves heard by either calling or drumming throughout the visit, 1 Goldcrest was observed briefly as it fluttered from branch to branch in a Yew, 6 Jays were seen, a flock of around 35 Siskin fed in wet woodland along the River Len, with another small flock of around 15 fed in the wet woodland at the foot of Jenner’s Bank, several parties of Long-tailed Tits were seen, 1 Green Woodpecker called from the golf course, 2 Bullfinch were seen perched in a Willow by the large reedbed, 2 Pheasants called from the large rough grassland area, and a Skylark called as it flew east over the fields. Also, whilst standing in front Mote House 2 skeins of Canada Geese flew east.



On the Lake were at least 6 Mute Swans, 40 Canada Geese, 6 Greylag Geese, 9 Tufted Duck, 5 Pochard, 2 Teal, and the countless Mallards, Coots and Moorhens. The gull flock on the Lake consisted of at least 28 Common Gulls, and even more Black-headed Gulls. In addition to this, 6 Herring Gulls flew west, 2 Cormorants perched on the island next to the Weir, 3 Grey Wagtails took advantage of the Lake’s low water levels, 2 Water Rails were heard ‘squealing’ from the large reedbed by the Weir, and 2 Grey Heron were seen.



Grey Heron

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Simon, this is my first visit to this website and your blog. What a lovely blog it was too. I live in Allington nr Maidstone, but used to live very close to Mote Park (1980's)and had many an enjoyable walk round the park. I never realised however, what an abundance of wildlife there was, the variety of birds you have seen is amazing. But then I live on a small estate now, close to some fields and orchards, I have a very small garden, and yet only the other day had a sparrow hawk in my garden after the small birds I feed, what an amazing sight it was, luckily it missed its breakfast, a blackbird. Regular visitors are Greater Spotted Woodpeckers, Green Woodpeckers, Jays, Long tailed tits, wrens, dunnocks, goldfinch, chaffinch, and many more. It is mainly thanks to a woodland walk which was planted when the houses were built 5 yrs ago, and planted well with many berry carrying plants. We also have a pheasant, owl, rabbits, squirrels and foxes in the field next to us.
Anyway, I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your blog and will check it out again, now I know it's there.

Shirley said...

Hi there, Simon :-)

Excellent frost shots! I love to see frost on the plants. I have posted very few frost shots in my garden this season and we are yet to get a hard frost in my part of Scotland :-D

Interesting to see you have so many local links in your sidebar :-D

Steve said...

some great pictures simon....and hey, you've got all our Siskin!

Simon said...

Thanks for the comments folks. It makes it worth while.

Steve said...

Hi simon - got your note about your Leybourne Lakes visit....I think I saw your group just before 11am as I was leaving....missed your siskin but did get a Black Necked Grebe....we both missed the earlier GOSHAWK!!

Tony Morris said...

I like the skein of geese against the sky, very evocative.

Next Event - TBA