Wednesday 12th. December 2012

A round up of the last few days starts with an afternoon visit to Sevenoaks Reserve , in the hope of seeing the Bittern which was seen recently and some Siskins , which seem to be fewer in number so far this Winter . Needless to say , I did not see the Bittern , or much other than the usual waterfowl and gulls , apart from two Kingfishers , which flew straight across Long Lake towards me before doing a 'u turn' and heading back from whence they came . I got them in the viewfinder , but the AF couldn't cope with them coming straight on , so sadly no shots . As I walked round I checked the

Alders for Siskins , but only a single Goldcrest was found , and finding nothing else of interest , made my way back to the car . Then , close to the fishermen's carpark , the chatter of Siskins was finally heard . It was a very mobile flock of 40/50 , which is the largest I have seen there so far , and for

once , a few birds were feeding in the open , rather than their usual thing of being at least half

concealed , but still very high in the tree . On the track leaving the reserve , several Woodpigeons

were gorging themselves on the Ivy berries . Whilst on site , I received a text from Adam / East Malling , Ditton and Barming , that a good sized flock of Waxwings had been found at his place of work , East Malling Research Station , but it was too late to get over then , so started planning for this morning . With freezing fog and cloud , the forecast was not good , but waking to a hard frost but clear , I decided to give it a go . En route , a text from Adam saying that he found 31 birds when he arrived was music to my ears , but further texts of 'flighty' , 'flown off' and 'only 3 returned' , was not what I was hoping to hear . On arrival the car thermometer was showing -2C , but several layers of clothing was donned and I headed for the area that Adam had indicated , which was bereft of Waxwings . In fact , the number of Winter Thrushes seen on the way was also very low , but it was noticeable that there was far less fruit on the trees and on the ground than there has been in previous years . I kept moving up and down the road , as much to keep warm as anything , when another birder appeared , no less than Phil Sharp / Sharp by Nature , who I haven't seen for ages , so it was good to catch up whilst we waited . Then Phil said that he could hear trilling , and a few seconds later 8 Waxwings few into the Silver Birch close by . We fired off a few shots , and they were gone , not

even coming down to the Guelder Rose berries below . I wasn't too worried as the flock I photographed 10 days ago often flew off , only to return after a short while . Unfortunately , these birds hadn't read the book and some time passed . We took the opportunity to get some Fieldfare

shots , but these too were very flighty and always kept at a good distance . As Phil mentioned at the time , they usually manage to get something between themselves and the camera . A bit later , 5

Waxwings flew in and landed in the Silver Birch and although they stayed a bit longer , a passing car

spooked them and they too were gone , and they was the only sightings of the birds whilst I was there . Phil and I gave it a bit longer , but that blue sky turned cloudy and the temperature dropped again . Phil decided to head for New Hythe and I walked back to the cars with him , before checking out the houses on the edge of the site , as a couple of years ago , the birds were feeding on ornamental berries in the gardens , but there was no sign this time , although plenty of berries . I the drove around to the other entrance to the Research Station and had 'lunch on the go' , whilst checking out the orchards . A few more Winter Thrushes were found , but no Waxwings . I returned to where I had originally parked and retraced my morning steps along the footpath , finding less birds than before ,

but managed to find a few Redwing , often being chased off by the larger , noisier Fieldfares , who

acted as if they owned the area , guarding their area of fallen apples . I met two other small groups of birders , neither of which had seen or heard Waxwings , but like me , frozen solid . I also met up with Adam and Ross / The Bald Birder , out at lunchtime , hoping to find the flock , but even with their local knowledge no Waxwings were found , and there was also a cameo appearance from Rambling in Kent by Twisden . I decided to call it a day and headed back to the car , but got waylayed around the church graveyard , trying to find a Nuthatch that was calling , apparently quite a rarity in the area and watching the inter-action between theFieldfares and a Green Woodpecker . My last shots taken were of a beautiful Mistle Thrush , high in a tree , eating Mistletoe

berries and wiping it's bill on the branch to get rid of the seeds , exactly what it says on the wrapper .
Many thanks to Adam for putting out the news and for the resulting impromptu 'Blogger-fest' .