A Happy New Year to you all. Most of today was spent in the Nethergong and southern end of Chislet Marshes apart from a two hour break at midday where I joined the family for lunch. I managed to see or hear 56 species in very cold conditions which is not too bad a start to the patch year list. Birds of note seen or heard this morning  included 2 Tawny Owls and 1 Barn Owl at dawn, 4+ Tundra Bean Geese still in fields between Nethergong and Sarre, 1+ Teal heard in the dark flying over, c200 Stock Dove, 123 Lapwing, 18 Snipe, 71 Cormorant, 2 Grey Heron, 2 Marsh Harrier, 2 Common Buzzard, 1 Kingfisher, 1 Great spotted Woodpecker, 2 Green Woodpecker, 3 Kestrel, 1 Peregrine, 2 Jay, 19 Skylark, 2 Goldcrest, 5 Redwing, 1 Fieldfare, 3 Stonechat, 1 Grey Wagtail, 3 Meadow Pipit, 1 Bullfinch, 1 Greenfinch and 2 Linnet. After lunch I returned until dusk and watched over the south end of Chislet Marshes where I noted 7 Tundra Bean Geese, 74 Mute Swan, 240 Stock Dove, 1 Sparrowhawk, 3 Marsh Harrier, 2 Kestrel, 1 Peregrine, 2 Jay, 2 Raven, 9 Starling, 2 Fieldfare, 1 Meadow Pipit, 1 Linnet and 1 Reed Bunting. 

Matt Hindle had 7 Cattle Egret in with the cattle at Nethergong yesterday afternoon. I made a brief visit in the evening where there were still 2 Cattle Egret in the field. 

I put the recorder out Friday night in the hope of catching anything flying over but in my mind, I had heard of good numbers of Sandwich Terns passing Dungeness, and thought it was worth a try. I have tried to get Sandwich Tern on the Nethergong list for quite a few years now and having had no luck, assumed that it was either bad luck, they don't call often or they simply don't pass over inland that much when they migrate. To cut a long story short, I finally managed to record a Sandwich Tern (115) at 04:15 flying over the area and this is also a new species for the recording area.

Sandwich Tern

I spent a few hours walking around the whole area Saturday in pleasant conditions where I noted 1 Greylag Goose, 1 Barn Owl, 1 Tawny Owl, 2 Little Owl and 1 Grey Partridge in the growing light. There were 17 Mute Swan, 1 Tufted Duck, 2 Stock Dove, 17 Moorhen, 1 Coot, 10 Black headed Gull, 46 Herring Gull, 4 Lesser Black backed Gull, 30 Cormorant, 2 Grey Heron, 2 Marsh Harrier, 3 Common Buzzard, 2 Kingfisher, 2 Great spotted Woodpecker, 2 Green Woodpecker, 4 Kestrel, 1 Hobby, 1 Peregrine with prey, 3 Jay, 2 Raven, 1 Sedge Warbler, 2 Reed Warbler, 2 Swallow, 6 Chiffchaff, 3 Willow Warbler, 6 Cetti's Warbler, 7 Long tailed Tit, 13 Blackcap, 1 Whitethroat, 1 Treecreeper, 3 Mistle Thrush, 1 Spotted Flycatcher (116), 1 Wheatear (117), 1 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Bullfinch, 3 Linnet, 4 Goldfinch and 15 Reed Bunting. Matt Hindle found 4 Cattle Egret feeding in with the cattle on the 4th September. 

Juvenile Goldfinch

Spotted Flycatcher eyeing up lunch!

Willow Warbler