Wildfowl numbers are slowly building up, with the usual species embellished by the presence of 8 Mandarins. The surrounding woodlands are very lively with passerines, including Crossbills heard and at least 100 Lesser Redpolls seen in the Woodland Trust’s Brede High Woods and a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker calling s of the reservoir.
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Judy Barker and her husband report… “Last Friday, 12th November, in the sheeting rain, early afternoon at Scotney, we spotted a gathering of Barnacle Geese (about 40). When we stopped the car, they all stopped feeding and looked up. Then, we noticed that at least nine were slightly bigger, greyer, with white heads and black necks. We assume these must have been Emperor Geese. We have waited for others to report this gathering about - but as have heard nothing, decided to make contact.” Please let me know if you also saw them - barry.yates@eastsussex.gov.uk (John Cooper saw 5 Emperor Geese with the flock of about 40 Barnacles on the Sussex end of Scotney on the 7th November, BUT Neil Burt says “The White headed geese seen by Judy at Scotney are, in most birders opinion, hybrid geese. There are currently 10 birds with the Barnacle Geese and they have arrived with them for the last few years. These birds are generally considered to be barnacle x unknown hybrids from feral populations, possibly in East Anglia or Holland ? They are mentioned in both the Kent Bird Report 2007 and the DBO report for 2008.”)
Liz Frame has asked the following - “We walked along the path of the reserve on October 12th - it was a lovely bright day but chilly - as we walked towards the sea we saw this image on the horizon - after about 10 minutes it had vanished - is it France? Was is just due to the light at that particular moment that it was visible. It was a remarkable sight.” Read the rest of this entry »