Rain, rain and more rain . . .

Shaggy Inkcap

Today was my turn to 'host' a bird-watching day with my mate Ken from Essex.   The weather forecast was poor and we decided to abandon the plans of Stodmarsh or Dungeness and head for more local tracks.

The local country park was the first stop with protection from the continual drizzle provided by the mature woodland.   The usual suspects of Wood Pigeon, Magpie, Blackbird and Robin were our first sightings.   We finally added Green and Great Spotted Woodpecker, and lots of grey squirrels feeding on the many sweet chestnuts lying around.   There were few others mad enough to be out in the rain, and this allowed us to hear lots of birds - even if we didn't see that many!

Magpie Inkcap

There were many fungi to be found, most of them unidentified, but they made an interesting diversion given the lack of avian life.

The highlight was a large flock of cormorants flying East - I have read that they are generally a sedentary species, but there is some short- to medium-haul migration moving between Britain and Scandinavia in the north, Portugal in the south.

Now just how many Cormorants are there
in this flock?

Our next stop was Ashendown Bank, more productive on the bird front, but far heavier rain.   Taking shelter under a large Oak tree we managed to catch up with Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, more Robin Blackbird and Great Spotted Woodpecker.   We also saw the largest flock of Parakeets I have seen locally - a dozen or so of the noisy birds were squabbling in the treetops.

As the rain worsened there was nothing left to do but head for the pub for lunch.   It's a hard life!