Pett to Winchelsea
Another week passes, another sombre and shadowless day. The dredger has worked along further east. Sludge piled along the back ditch attracts Herons and 6, or perhaps 8, Little Egrets. Freshly minced canalside vegetation proves of interest to 5 Stonechats but is bad news for expansionist Cetti’s Warblers and newly daring Long-tailed Tits, whose island-hopping explorations are now curtailed.
In the sombre light, one white blob proves to be an Egret, the next a Barn Owl and the small one, gliding close to the canal’s surface, a Green Sandpiper.
Canada and Greylag Geese are now based at Pett rather than at Rye, honking out of the Pannel Valley at 0800. The flock of Chaffinches is building up in the Elder scrub of Wickham Cliff.
Redwings are moving north, to judge from the flock scuttling about Greyfriars’ Meadow, and waddling Mallard couples are checking out secluded ditches.
