March 29th

Black things were the order of the day today as we walked from Reculver to Coldharbour and back by way of the railway embankment and Green Wall. Along the path at the back of the Oyster Farm there had been a "hatch" of Black Oil Beetles and we saw at least fifteen.

Black Oil Beetle

Later as we got back to the Towers a Raven flew past us over the sea towards Bishopstone but then flew inland and started diving at two other birds which also turned out to be Ravens!

Ravens

Other than this it was pretty quiet and during our walk we saw 11 "alba" Wagtails, 36 Meadow Pipits W, 1 Fulmar E, 4 Little Egrets, 4 Redshank, 5 Linnets, 1 Snipe, 1 Grey Heron, 17 Mallard, 4 Ringed Plovers, 2 adult Mediterranean Gulls W, 4 Dunlin, 1 Red-throated Diver, 1 Green Woodpecker, 2 Long-tailed Tits, 2 Cetti's Warblers, 4 Chiffchaffs, 1 Common Buzzard and 3 Sand Martins.
After lunch we drove over to Shuart for a walk and at Hillborough had a Red Kite flying W.
At Shuart we counted 2 Long-tailed Tits, 1 Kestrel, 1 Grey Heron, 2 Common Buzzards, 12 Mute Swans, 5 Lapwings, 1 Green Woodpecker, 2 Chiffchaffs, 2 Ring-necked Parakeets, 2 Blackcaps, male and female and a singing male Firecrest. We also found good numbers of Tawny Mining Bees zooming about over the path along the drove.

Female Tawny Mining Bee