Neil Burt

A bit of patch gold after work today with a moulting drake SHOVELER (a terrible record shot🤣) feeding on the Hothfield Waterfall Lake, very scarce on this side of Ashford. Year ✅ #70 #patchbirding #PWC2026. Little Grebe, 2 Tufted Ducks (a pair with a 3rd drake noted on Tuesday) and 12 Teal.

At the Hothfield Flood Storage Reservoir: 2 Common Snipe, up to 3 Green Sandpipers, pairs of Stonechat & Grey Wagtail, 6 Yellowhammers, 3 Mipits, 4 Skylarks & 3 Reed Buntings, Raven nearby, Bullfinches, Siskins & Linnets. Pair of Tufted Ducks on Singleton lake & 4 Canada Geese.

3x #patchbirding visits this week since returning from Norfolk. The #PWC2026 list moves on to 70 species with the first male Greenfinch in song on rural Godinton Park, LBB Gulls back over the Cobbs Wood Industrial Estate, and the first Chiffchaffs singing (x7) across the area.

Spent a lovely couple of hours eating lunch in the Welney WWT cafe with splendid views over Lady Fen. More Common Cranes, Cattle & GW Egrets, Pinkfeet & White-fronted Geese, Avocets, Golden Plovers, Marsh Harrier & plenty of Wildfowl & waders.

On Monday (2nd) visited the Fens & the Nene & Ouse Washes. Plenty of wildfowl, raptors & a bonus LEO. 2 Common Cranes in flight at Ouse Fen, Water Rail, GW & Little Egrets, 1000s of Whooper Swans still. At Denver Sluice 1 red-head Goosander, Pinkfeet & a bonus 34 White-fronted Geese that flew E.

On Sun (1st Mar) it was nice to catch up with the Eastern Black Redstart at Sheringham. There was a pale-bellied Brent Goose with DBs between Cley & Salthouse, plus 2 of the 3 Glossy Ibises at Stiffkey Floods, 2 Cattle Egrets & 3 Pintails. A Barn Owl was a nice way to finish the day at Burnham Overy

Spent the weekend in Norfolk, 1st visit of 2026. Plenty of birds & better weather than of late. Highlights on 28th Feb of Slavonian & Black-necked Grebes, 3 drake Eiders & R-B Merganser pair in the channel between Brancaster Beach & Scolt Head. At Titchwell, Scaup & Goldeneye, Raven & 2 Tawny Owls.

PWC 2026 scores.xls

Remember to get your February scores submitted onto the spreadsheet by the evening of the 7th March, ready for the February round-up on the blog.

If you haven't signed up yet and want to be included, follow this link: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Come stay at the Observatory this spring with the season being well underway already! We have plenty of availability and for a very reasonable price of £15 per night for friends, and £20 per night for others!

Patchwork Challenge

For more info on signing up for this year's competition, then check out the blog here: patchworkchallenge.blogspot.com

For the sign-up sheet, follow this link: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

The Patchwork Challenge 2025 article is now out in the latest issue of @birdguides.bsky.social's Birdwatch Extra Magazine! We hope all subscribers enjoy the write-up, it was a brilliant collaborative effort and we thank those patch birders that helped! Enjoy!

Wednesday Birder Club at Rye Harbour

Red Roof Hut- Rye Harbour

Rye Harbour view from Denny Hide

Madeira Cake which was not eaten at Rye Harbour this pm

The ‘Wednesday Birder Club’ spent a few hours at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve today

Dartford Warblers, the wintering Spotted Redshank, Red-breasted Merganser and a pleasant selection of waders and duck

Ran out of time for cake and tea - so I started eating it when I got home 🤦

#sussexbirding

Stunning day in my local woods. The Lesser spots were active all morning including at noon this amazing display of wing flicking, wryneck posturing plus an unfamiliar guttural call. @lesserspotnet

Acrylic sketch of one of today’s Lesser spots.

Fantastic 👍👏

This afternoon’s after work #patchbirding walk was very springlike in warm sunshine. Plenty of common birds in song and a Greylag Goose flew west into the sunset at the Hothfield Flood Gap, #PWC2026 year ✅ #66. At dusk both Tawny & Little Owls were calling on rural Godinton Park.

I spent severals hours today taking video of The Lesser Whitethroat(halimodendri)? Blueskys 100mb is somewhat limiting, lots more to edit and eventually upload to YouTube.

And then today 22nd: 05:00+01:00 presumably roosting on a lagoon/lake north of Oldenbuttel & the Nord-Ostsee Kanal before relocating to fields nearby at 10:00+01:00 (Germany). She is very close to where she was on Xmas Eve 2025. 👍 Good luck Nadine on your migration. Safe journey.

Yesterday Sat 21st: at 05:00+01:00 she was 530.5km away from Walland Marsh, in the Netherlands at the Oostvaardersplassen near Lelystad. At 10:00+01:00 she moved another 311km further NE to near Wilhelmshaven in Germany. The final ‘ping’ yesterday was at 16:00+01:00, a further 178 km NE near Gokels.

For those that have enjoyed seeing ‘Nadine’ & the flock of Bewick’s Swans on Walland this winter, only 10 birds noted this PM in the Ashentree Lane fields. I have just had a look at Nadine’s data track. She was last in those fields at 16:00+01:00 on Fri 20th & her migration back E has now started…

Paid a visit to the Wellmarsh & Counterwall Hides for the first time in many years today. Lots of Brent Geese feeding distantly, 1000s of Wigeons, good numbers of Pintail, Teal, Shoveler & Gadwall, Turnstones & Dunlin flocks in flight as the tide rose.

Another enjoyable visit to Elmley NNR today too. Drake Red-breasted Merganser, Barn Owl, Peregrine, Raven, 2 Stonechats, 1000s of dabbling ducks & waders, 2 elusive Bearded Tits, plenty of Marsh Harriers & C Buzzards, Goldcrest & Fieldfares.

Lesser Whitethroat giving me the look.

Lesser Whitethroat caught in the act of pooing.

Lesser Whitethroat caught in the act of pooing.

Lesser Whitethroat poo ready for me to collect..

Finally after 7 weeks of watching and photographing this Lesser Whitethroat)halimodendri)? it gave me this look and I just knew it was going to do the deed 💩, safely collected into a moth pot.
#UKBirding

Sylvia DNA delight. 👍👏

Spent the day on the Isle of Sheppey. Started at Capel Fleet and Harty Marshes where 2 flocks of White-fronted Geese (200+ and 27) were seen early on, plus a showy Cetti’s Warbler and plenty of Corn Buntings, Marsh Harriers, Common Buzzards (including a pale phase bird), dabbling ducks & Kestrel.

2026 Sign-up and 2025 Score Submission! Hello from the Patchwork Challenge team!  We have just released the sign up and scoresheet for Patchwork Challenge 2026! We hope you are loo...

Good luck to everyone out #patchbirding this weekend! Remember that it isn't too late to sign up for this year's competition, so if you have a patch you enjoy watching, why not sign up?!

For more info on how to do so, follow this link: patchworkchallenge.blogspot.com/2025/12/2026...

More gloomy weather for today’s #patchbirding walk but singing Skylark, Yellowhammer & Reed Bunting at the Hothfield Flood Storage Reservoir made it a little more springlike. An influx of Tufted Ducks there too… 6 birds (4 drakes) plus a further drake on the waterfall lake (& 1 drake Teal).

Back to the dull grey weather for the after work #patchbirding walk around Singleton Lake this afternoon. 1 drake Tufted Duck, 2 Canada Geese, 2 Cormorants, Redwings & Goldfinches, GS Woodpecker, Kestrel & 1 Common Buzzard getting a hard time from the local Herring Gulls. 3 BH Gulls & LT Tits.

It was nice to make a phone call to the parents who successfully got to see the White Stork from the front garden. That’s the 2nd White Stork seen over the house. Forgot to mention the Tufted Duck… a drake seen on the Waterfall Lake. 👍