RXwildlife Sightings

I was just about to leave the house for Pett Level around 9.15, hoping to catch up with yesterday’s 60 Waxwings, when I heard the give-away trill! Looking up, there at the top of the neighbour’s tall poplar were ‘our very own’ Waxwings - 45 or 46 in a tight flock all preening contentedly. Westfield is a few miles from Pett Level so these could well be different birds. Small parties then descended to other back gardens and to the outer margins of the village, before reassembling an hour or so later back at the poplar with same the head count. A new garden tick after 31 years - and zero carbon footprint birding at its best! - Ralph Hobbs by e-mail

Just to clarify Cliff’s comment in yesterday’s Waxwing posting, the geese I reported on the Rye_Bay_Wildlife Yahoo group were 18 White-fronts, 21 Brents and 9 Barnacles, all on the 9th. The Barnacle Geese have apparently newly arrived - feral birds like the Scotney ones, or of wild origin?

Highlights while out and about in recent days have included 450 Curlew, 2 Black-tailed Godwit and a Dartford Warbler on Harbour Farm, Spotted Redshank, 3 Smew and 180 Teal at Ternery Pool, 2 Bittern, 60 Fieldfare and 20 Ruff at Castle Water. There is a lot more around come and look.