Pett Level
18th March 2008, Tuesday
In the central section of the marsh, a lot of ditches have been dredged, some for the first time in decades, the diggers returning them to a sharper geometry emphasized by parallel lines of spoil, bristling with displaced juncus. The open water will let in more light, which will benefit the varied aquatic wildlife, which the marginal vegetation will soon regenerate.
Bright new farm gates have been installed too, and it was as I was closing one of these that I caught, from the corner of my eye, a tiny horizontal darting movement along the crest of silt drying nearby. Tiny, but absolutely characteristic of the Wheatear, which I tracked down with difficulty once it was motionless.
Low overhead, waves of Starlings were heading north, at first in groups of around 50, but later in bigger flocks of 2-300. A few thousand must have gone over during the morning. Other flocks were arriving down the Pannel Valley, converging with the flow once they had crossed the path of a stream of Chaffinches hugging the tree line along the old cliffs.
Other migrants overhead were a very few Meadow Pipits and Siskins, a Grey Wagtail, a squawking Brambling and a Buzzard, high over Winchelsea where it was seen off by local Rooks.
A mixed flock of Pied and White Wagtails on Coneyburrow Banks contained some dazzling bright males, and I saw a dozen or so Chiffchaffs on my way round.
