** Thursday 13th January, Halling / Friday 14th, East Malling Church **

Thursday 13th January:
I had to go to the post office this morning and as it is at the top of Ferry Rd I decided to go down to check out the river. The tide was out so wader wise there could be anything about, you never know.It was exceptionally quiet, but at least my old friend the Common Sandpiper was showing, along with Redshank, Lapwing, Moorhen, C/Crow, Mallard, Teal, Cormorant, Herring Gull, Common Gull, B/H/Gull, and another species for the Halling Year List/ Halling January List which was 3 Great Black Backed Gulls.
They was resting up on the mud flats, standing there very tall and lauding it over all the other Gulls. They are a wonderful looking bird, their black back, and white head, and body, and   and when they did fly around they made the other gulls look small.
My Bird Of The Day is going to be the ** Great Blacked Backed Gull.**

Friday 14th January.
Friday is my mother's shopping day but we took a detour on our way to Walderslade via East Malling.
Although it was raining hard we still went, and we parked by the church. I walked up the footpath just to see if anything was showing, which wasn't a lot, especially in that rain. I did walk down the path a fair way and scanned the tree's hoping for something different, something like a Brambling. There was plenty of Chaffinch's about, but no Bramblings. I did see a huge fock of Fieldfare fly in and settle in the top of one of the tree's near the church.
The rain didn't easy up at all so not wanting to get too wet, especially as I was going out I made my way back. I made my final stop under the overhanging  branches by the church ,and it was here that I saw my first Goldcrest of the year, in fact there could have been 2, but I cannot be certain.