The Berengrave roost

That Pheasant- a record shot to impress
the Berengrave rarities committee

A new high total of 282 Magpie in tonight, though I was rather more impressed by a Pheasant dropping in, low over my head- the first I've noted roosting here in the three winters I've been counting Berengrave. That's how counting can get you, even the most uber-mundane species can overexcite you just by showing up and doing not a lot a lot.

Redwing numbers were up, and some of them were not quite sure where exactly to go in, circling the chalk pit several times, one or two flying off to the west- recent arrivals from a local movement perhaps? Disturbingly the Chaffinch collapse continued, now less than fifty birds were seen arriving.

But perhaps most interesting to me were the Woodpigeon. Numbers slightly down, perhaps expected after the New Years' Eve fireworks, but more intriguingly the vast majority arrived not from the east and the open countryside, but south and west from the urban sprawl. Local fields lack quality feeding this year, and a switch to the gardens of Medway could be underway.