BRAMBLING numbers on the up

TUESDAY 14 FEBRUARY

The thaw continued with a vengeance today as temperatures climbed to 8 degrees C. It did remain murky and grey but was dry.

At CHENIES BOTTOM first thing, 8 LITTLE EGRETS were lined up along the edge of the new lake

I put in a good innings at HEDGERLEY LANDFILL this afternoon, with up to 4,000 gulls on site. No less than 95 Red kites were counted on one occasion, and of 1,750 corvids present, about 900 were Jackdaw and 400 Rook

Other than 2300 Black-headed Gulls, Herring Gulls were the dominant species with 575 present at the peak. The vast majority of these were juveniles. Not one Great Black-back was noted, just 13 Lesser Black-backs and 4 Common Gulls. There was no sign of yesterday's juvenile Glaucous Gull, which incidentally is a different bird to that at Knowl Hill, west of Maidenhead.

PENN WOOD was very quiet other than the roosting finches: the Holly Greenfinch roost was paltry at just 66 (although Kevin Holt saw an additional 200 elsewhere in the wood) but this was more than made up for with the BRAMBLING roost count - no less than 148 birds pitched down into the Penna Rhododendron scrub - easily my highest count of the winter. The birds gathered pretty late and dropped down into cover at 1700 hours.

Nearby, 17 Red Kites roosted in BROOK WOOD