A visit Saturday morning in still pleasant conditions from 06:30 produced 2 Little Owl which showed well in silhouette calling to each other. there were 8 Gadwall, 90 Black headed Gull, c228 Herring Gull, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Common Buzzard, 1 Great spotted Woodpecker, 2 Green Woodpecker, 2 Kestrel, 1 Peregrine, 1 Jay, 59 Rook, 2 Raven, 1 Skylark, 1 Swallow, 3 Chiffchaff, 2 Goldcrest, 2 Mistle Thrush, 5 Redwing, 5 Stonechat, 5 Meadow Pipit, 1 Brambling, c80 Linnet, 7 Goldfinch and 3 Reed Bunting. Nocmig recording Friday night produced 1 Water Rail over calling, 1 Little Owl, 1 Barn Owl and c40 Redwing calls. Another visit Sunday morning from 06:40 produced 20 Mute Swan, 161 Black headed Gull, 4 Common Gull, c350 Herring Gull, 1 Lesser Black backed Gull, 1 Grey Heron, 35 Cormorant, 2 Common Buzzard, 1 Little Owl, 1 Great spotted Woodpecker, 2 Green Woodpecker, 2 Kestrel, 4 Jay, 46 Rook, 11 Skylark, 2 Chiffchaff, 4 Cetti's Warbler, 1 Blackcap, 6 Goldcrest, 2 Firecrest, 1 Treecreeper, 2 Mistle Thrush, 6 Stonechat, c70 Chaffinch, c35 Linnet, 18 Corn Bunting (scarce in the area) and 6 Reed Bunting. 

Brambling

Redwing 

With some lovely sunshine and light winds forecast for today, I was out quite early at 05:45 to collect my recorder and spent some time standing out on the marsh listening to the day wake up. 2 Little Owl were calling and as the light picked up, 1 Grey Partridge called and 16 Gadwall flew towards the Stour Valley. I then drove around to Nethergong where I spent a few hours walking most of the patch. Birds noted included Greylag Geese heard, 6 Pheasant, 10 Moorhen, 1 Common Gull, 42 Cormorant, 5 Cattle Egret (126) were just about picked up flying NW before they flew behind some trees and were lost to view. There was 1 Grey Heron, 1 Sparrowhawk, 4 Common Buzzard, 2 Great spotted Woodpecker, 2 Green Woodpecker, 2 Kestrel, 1 Peregrine, 2 Jay, 72 Rook, 25 Skylark, c30 Swallow, c25 House Martin, 13 Chiffchaff, 6 Cetti's Warbler, 6 Long tailed Tit, 3 Goldcrest, 1 Treecreeper, 6 Song Thrush, 3 Stonechat and 1 Pied Wagtail. I was walking around one of the recently ploughed fields when I heard what I thought was a Water Pipit type call and saw two birds drop in to the field. I slowly walked forward and picked up 2 dark pipits which as they made there way slowly nearer, I could see they were 2 ROCK PIPITS (127), a new species for the patch. Despite the distance, I took a few shots to confirm their identification and watched them until they called and flew off strongly towards Reculver. This is a species I only ever see at the coast so to see this species inland is a real bonus and not a bird I even expected to see here. Other bits seen were 1 Meadow Pipit, 15 Chaffinch, 1 Brambling heard, 7 Bullfinch, 2 Greenfinch, 8 Linnet, 7 Corn Bunting and 9 Reed Bunting. 

Rock Pipit (Back of camera shot)

Goldcrest 

I had a little extra time this morning so was out early at 05:45 until midday where I had a good walk around the patch. In still but quite cloudy conditions, I managed to see or hear 59 species which is very good here for late September. I'm sure if I had stayed longer it would have been a 60 species day as I hadn't seen Great Tit or Long tailed Tit. Birds seen today included 2 Little Owl calling early morning, 1 Barn Owl, 1 Grey Partridge calling at dawn, 41 Greylag Geese, 10 Mute Swan, c200 Herring Gull, 39 Black headed Gull, 38 Cormorant, 1 Little Egret, 2 Grey Heron, 2 Marsh Harrier, 1 Sparrowhawk, 2 Common Buzzard, 1 Kingfisher, 2 Great spotted Woodpecker and 2 Green Woodpecker. There were 3 Kestrel, 1 Peregrine, 2 Jay, 2 Raven, 23 Skylark, 2 Reed Warbler, 2 Sand Martin, 35 Swallow, 70 House Martin, 3 Chiffchaff, 4 Cetti's Warbler, 2 Blackcap, 1 Firecrest, 2 Mistle Thrush, 1 Whinchat, 5 Stonechat, 1 Wheatear, 2 Pied Wagtail, 9 Meadow Pipit, 2 Bullfinch, 58 Linnet, 40 Goldfinch, 2 Corn Bunting and 11 Reed Bunting. Despite a good look again, it looks likely that I will not see Spotted Flycatcher, Pied Flycatcher or Redstart this year. I'm sure they would have passed through when I've been at work but I was hoping for at least one of them to boost the year list which seems to have paused at present. 'Nocmig' continues to be woeful with only a Little Owl recorded of late and if the year list is to move on, I need a few birds passing over at night and a decent winter too. You never know what's around the corner in birding so fingers crossed for something decent in the coming months. 

Stonechat - male