The oilseed rape is out in bloom now. This field is south of my patch. Immediatley behind the hedgerow is the A26 Tonbridge road, its noise constantly destroys the peaceful countryside around it.

The CUCKOO called again this morming as I walked in to work. However a much rarer species was recorded, when an EGYPTIAN GOOSE (76) flew across migrant alley,only the second occurrence of this bird in the 7 years recording of my patch. The last was a group of 10 that visited the lake area on the 15th Oct. 2006.

Walking back home from work i saw that the manured field at migrant alley was being prepared for ploughing. Later that afternoon I went back to watch what might turn up on the freshly turned sods. 2 hours of waiting only produced an ever growing flock of PIED WAGTAILS, I estimated between 30 - 50 popping up between the turned earth. A group of some 25 ROOKS and 20 JACKDAWS also hunted for morsels, probably for their growing nestlings.

An evening visit to the scrubby woods adjacent to the lake, to listen for Nightingale was a failure, they might be there, but I didn't hear them - anyday now.

Back to work today, so only half an hour to scan my patch on the way in. At migrant alley there were 40+ HERRING GULLS and 3 LESSER BLACK BACKED GULLS. Another 20 Herring Gulls were on the sports pitch at the college. Little else was noted, I listened for the Cuckoo but it didn't call.
This afternoon I walked round to the lake area, but frequent short, sharp showers made it difficult to observe much. Whilst waiting for a shower too pass, I spied 2 Large raptors flying way in the distance, they didn't look like Buzzards, could of been a harrier species - another one gets away!
A short sit on my favoured horse jump, over at migrant alley, only produced PIED WAGTAILS, 20 or so STOCK DOVES and the usual corvid mix. The only spring visitors noted were CHIFFCHAFF and a single SWALLOW.