Sunday, 1 February 2015

31/01/2015 Scotney Cattle Egrets and Corn Buntings

Saturday 31st January 2015
Scotney Gravel Pits, Kent/Sussex Border

Received a text from Paul about Bean Geese and White-fronted Geese so I made a bee-line for  Scotney GP's on the Kent/Sussex border.  Unfortunately the White-fronted Geese had left by the time I got there and try as I may I could not find the 2 Bean Geese among the Greylags on the spit.  Many geese were leaving and heading west over Walland Marsh so I decided to go follow them, hoping for a sighting.  Unfortunately I failed but not before I had made a couple of interesting sightings.

  • First and foremost I found 2 Cattle Egrets, almost certainly the same 2 that had resided at Denge Marsh Road for several weeks but had now just departed: they were on the east side of the concrete drive by Scotney Court Farm.   On the way back from the marsh I met several birders who had relocated to this point on the strength of my post on RareBirdAlert and they thanked me for the information; some had spent all morning on Denge Marsh looking for them in vain.

  • I saw a small flock of 10 Corn Buntings feeding in the ploughed field close to the farm buildings, a useful addition to my 2015 Year List.



Addition to BUBO 2015 UK Bird List:
Corn Bunting   (137)




This was not what I came for but, nevertheless, it was a welcome reward for some hard birding in the cold January conditions on the south coast.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.