Saturday 11 March 2017

Leith Hill, 11th March 2017

The second Towerwatch of the spring saw me join Matt P, Robin S, Paul S, Phil W, David S and Stuart C for another frustratingly fog-laiden morning. We all stuck it out and gassed away till the skies eventually opened up around midday, by which time we had only managed to log a single Crossbill, two redpolls and a handful of Meadow Pipits trickling through of any note. The raptors did start to get up, with around 20 Common Buzzards tallied but the ship had already sailed for anything of 'higher calibre'. Mind you, we did get a Red Kite as descended back to the cars. The first returning Firecrest of the spring was singing lower down, in the distance a Woodlark danced in the sky and a Marsh Tit was calling by the tower and a count of four Tufted Ducks on Broomhall Lake (in the foothills) was notable. I finished on 15 Meadow Pipits by the time we clocked off. I was rather pleased to have seen a Barn Owl near Dorking en-route, at dawn.

The loftiest birders in south-east England
Red Kite