January 1st
2019 dawned bright and breezy as we completed our annual attempt to see as many birds as possible on the first day of the year in the Reculver recording area. In the event it was a bit of a struggle and Anne and I only managed to record 65 species.
We began at first light at Reculver where we recorded 32 Mute Swans, 2 Teal, 2 Great Crested Grebes, 7 Redwings, 1 Cetti's Warbler, 1 Common Buzzard, 86 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 1 Great Northern Diver, 34 Oystercatchers and 2 Red-throated Divers.
After this we drove to Chamber's Wall and walked along the railway embankment and Green Wall and on to Coldharbour. We recorded 7 Corn Buntings, 58 Fieldfares, 55 Redwings, 1 Common Buzzard, the Great Northern Diver drifting back east, 1 Fulmar flying W over the Oyster Farm, 4 Turnstone, 4 Ringed Plovers, 1 Little Grebe, 3 Linnets, 1 Little Egret, 7 Redshank, 3 Mallard, 3 Goldfinches, 2 Stonechats and 7 Coot.
From here we drove to Shuart where we spent half an hour and recorded 6 Ring-necked Parakeets, 6 Long-tailed Tits, 2 Chiffchaffs, 1 Marsh Harrier, 2 Jays, 1 Barn Owl, 66 Mallard and 1 Teal.
We then went home for a bite to eat and this afternoon birded at Minnis and Grenham Bays where we added 1 Gannet, 8 Curlew, 22 Dunlin, 16 Ringed Plovers, 4 Grey Plovers, 40 Oystercatchers, 3 Little Egrets, 21 Great Crested Grebes and 15 Dark-bellied Brent Geese.
Marc Heath and Julian and Alex Perry were also out all day and ended up with 74 species. Among the species they saw that we did not were, Shelduck, Sparrowhawk, Peregrine, Lapwing, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Short-eared Owl, Kingfisher and Yellowhammer.
With these species included the day's total was 78.