January 1st  -  Happy New Year
As usual Matt and I set out on New Year's Day to see how many species we could find in the Reculver Marshes recording area. We began in the dark at 0700 and were rewarded by hearing 7 calling Grey Partridges and 1 Little Owl. Other birds seen and heard in the area included 2 Chiffchaffs, 2 Snipe, 2 Water Rails, 4 Pochard, 62 Gadwall, 6 Tufted Duck, 1 Little Grebe, 2 Green Woodpeckers, 30 Brent Geese, 12 Sanderling, 1 Common Buzzard, 2 Green Sandpipers, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Siskin and 1 Cetti's Warbler.
As we walked inland we recorded 1 Short-eared Owl at the Oyster Farm, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Marsh Harrier, 2 Siskins, 200 Fieldfares, 2 Red-legged Partridges, 2 Common Buzzards, 2 Grey Herons, 2 Kingfishers, 6 Yellowhammers, 3 Corn Buntings, 5 Redwings and 15 Golden Plovers.
Next we moved on to Shuart where we found 5 Ring-necked Parakeets, 6 Long-tailed Tits, 3 Lesser Redpolls, 3 Fieldfares, 2 Chiffchaffs, 2 Cetti's Warblers, 1 Green Woodpecker, 1 Siskin, 1 Grey Heron, 10 Redwings, 18 Fieldfares, 2 Common Buzzards, 34 Mute Swans, 1 Greylag Goose, 2 Bearded Tits and 1 Water Rail.
We drove back home for lunch and met at Minnis Bay at 1400 where we had an excellent hour seeing 110 Oystercatchers, 6 Curlew, 10 Redshank, 4 Red-throated Divers, 64 Turnstone, 4 Great Crested Grebes, 58 Grey Plovers, 9 Gannets E, 1 Little Egret, 15 Ringed Plovers, 53 Dunlin, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 14 Little Gulls E and 1 Guillemot E.
On our way home we managed to find 15 Tree Sparrows at Bishopstone and finished the day on 88 species.
Julian and Alex Perry and Marc Heath were also out all day and saw 8 species we didn't: Lapwing, Woodcock, Barn Owl, Jay, Rock Pipit, Stonechat, Black Redstart and Greenfinch. This takes the total for the area to 96 species.