February 17th
On a glorious, frosty winter's morning we walked along the seawall from Reculver to Coldharbour. Our highlight, although not a native species, was 3 Black Swans in Coldharbour which were very flighty and soon took off and flew towards Pegwell Bay. Black Swans originate from Australia and have escaped from collections and are breeding in dozens of sites across the country. The population has doubled and breeding figures tripled in the last few years. In fact it has increased at such a rate the population may be considered to be self-sustaining and the species could be added to the British list in the not too distant future.

Black Swans

Other birds seen this morning included 144 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 3 Lapwings, 17 Cormorants, 1 Little Owl, 7 Ringed Plovers, 3 Pied Wagtails, 4 Meadow Pipits, 5 Mute Swans, 28 Linnets, 8 Goldfinches, 11 Reed Buntings, 24 Redshank, 3 Shelduck, 1 Red-throated Diver, 17 Oystercatchers, 32 Corn Buntings, 4 Turnstone, 3 Skylarks, 48 Mallard, 1 Little Egret, 57 Golden Plovers and 1 Peregrine.