15th March 2018

GORING: Combined totals from two short and relatively slow seawatches off George V Avenue included 26 Red-throated Divers, three Shelducks, three Sandwich Terns, two Shovelers, 14 Common Scoters, two Dark-bellied Brent Geese, a Curlew, 32 Red-breasted Mergansers, seven Gannets, seven Kittiwakes, three Mediterranean Gulls (including a 3CY), a Lesser Black-backed Gull and two Great Crested Grebes. Small numbers of waders around included 22 Sanderlings and - particularly unusually - six Oystercatchers in the roost field, along with a handful of Grey Plover, Dunlin and Ringed Plover. A Buzzard was seen. A Small Tortoiseshell was on the wing. DKC/GJ

Oystercatchers (DKC)

FERRING RIFE hosted our first spring migrant Chiffchaff of the year as it sang from a blossom tree. A Red Kite and four Buzzards soared to the north and other birds noted included two Mallards, two Pheasants, a Little Egret, a Water Rail, four Moorhens, two Green Woodpeckers, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, an adult Mediterranean Gull, a Goldcrest (few and far between of late), two Meadow Pipits and a female Reed Bunting. Singles of Small Tortoiseshell and Brimstone were flying. DKC/GJ

Buzzard (DKC)

Small Tortoiseshell (DKC)