1st March

Weather: Wind SSW f3-4, overcast with rain in morning, then drier during afternoon. Mild.

Rose-ringed Parakeet, Reeds Rest Cottages, 01/03/16 (Steve Gale)

The gull-fest of the last few days appears to be over, with meagre pickings for any observers this morning and just the usual, distant and high flight line over Chipstead Valley this afternoon, but some compensation was had with a build up of Fieldfare numbers in the Canons Farmhouse/Lunch Wood area.

Canons Farm: 1 GREY HERON, 5 PHEASANT (2♂+3♀), 3 COMMON BUZZARD (Bog Field, Lunch Wood), 1 KESTREL, 3 COMMON GULL (Legal & General), LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL (Legal & General), 2 LITTLE OWL (Broad Field), 6 STOCK DOVE, GREEN WOODPECKER, 4 ROSE-RINGED PARAKEET, 2 JAY, 4 SKYLARK (singing), 2 LONG-TAILED TIT (Lunch Wood), NUTHATCH (Lunch Wood), 2 TREECREEPER (Lunch Wood, Ruffett Wood), 2 MISTLE THRUSH, 245+ FIELDFARE (in a loose flock centred on Lunch Wood), 3 SONG THRUSH, 10 REDWING, 2 ROOK, 215 CARRION CROW, 75 JACKDAW, 3 GOLDFINCH, 24 YELLOWHAMMER (Reads Rest Cottages).

Banstead Woods: 1 GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, 5 SONG THRUSH, 6 REDWING, 1 NUTHATCH, 1 TREECREEPER, 1♂ BULLFINCH (all between Perrott's Farm and Estate)

Other wildlife: The SUMMER SNOWFLAKE clump is starting to flower (250m from Perrott's Farmhouse on the footpath towards Holly Lane) and a patch of EARLY CROCUS in Tawny Wood

Observers: David Campbell, Steve Gale, Ian Magness, Jamie McKenzie