Newenden Flood
1st January 2010, FridayThe fields at Newenden (just north of Northiam) seem to have flooded regularly in recent winters and given the amount of rain we have had in the past two months, not surprisingly, they are very wet at the moment. Although not comparable with other wetlands nearer the coast they do attract good numbers of waterfowl for this area, and flocks are starting to build up. Today, although mallard were the most common duck species there were 56 shoveler and small numbers of teal. A passing bird-watcher reported a whooper swan in a ditch by the oil-seed rape fields to the west of the road, although it was not visible when I was there. This may be the same bird that has used this area during the past couple of winters. Over 200 duck were present on the flood, with over 200 lapwing on the adjacent wet grassland. Numbers may continue to build up over coming weeks.