At last some moths. The milder weather tempted me to put the trap out on Friday night only to notice that the wind had blown the vanes over a couple of hours later. I put it away and tried again last night. There were some heavy showers but this morning there was a Chestnut and a December Moth in the trap. The latter was only my 4th record and the first for 2 years.

December Moth

Still no moths to report. However, I had a birding trip to Dunge today. En route I noticed about 30 Waxwings in the top of a tree at Johnson's Corner near Ham Street. At Dunge we managed at the 2nd attempt to see the Black-throated Diver on the New Diggings, where there was  also one of the Great White Egrets. On Burrowes there was a drake Smew, my first Smew of this winter, a female Goosander and 4 Ruddy Ducks, both year ticks for me. There was also a very tame Fox feeding under the bird feeders on the reserve. After lunch we headed over to Walland Marsh where we saw aournd 40 Bewick's Swans, the adult male Hen Harrier, Peregrine, Sparrowhawk, and Fieldfares everywhere.

 Mr Fox

  

A fine morning and with reports of Waxwings arriving in Kent in reasonable numbers, I thought I might have a look for some reported near Yorkletts, the closest to where I live. After a couple of laps of the area I found the flock of about 40 birds. They were flighty but returned to the road behind Young's Lorry Park late morning. There were also good numbers of Fieldfares & Redwings in the general area.

Wawings