Cadborough Cliff, Rye
1st April 2009, Wednesday
Linnets and Greenfinches, which find secure nest-sites in the dense gorse along the old cliff line, get an additional benefit this year from the planting of a strip of bird-food in the marsh fields alongside it. Woodpigeons, Yellowhammers and Reed Buntings also appreciate the new food-source, though the Tree Sparrows it was also intended to encourage seem sadly absent. 2 Sparrowhawks and a Kestrel completed the food chain. Linnets were very numerous - up to 90 - but, given that local breeders return in mid-March, some of these are probably migrants on their way northwards from wintering grounds in Spain or even Morocco.
The gorse bushes support a good population of Dunnocks (though strangely not Robins), Blackbirds and Song Thrushes and in a couple of weeks Whitethroats will join them.
The most obvious summer arrival is Chiffchaff, with 10 singing males and, as I stopped to listen to my first Blackcap of the year, I discovered that a pair of Long-tailed Tits were nest-building just in front of me.
