A comment on our winter weather by the former Warden, Michael Walter:
In this exceptionally mild winter I have recorded just two slight air frosts, and already, in late February, it looks as though we are emerging into spring. I haven’t recorded chiffchaffs yet at Blean, but they have been in song in the Stour Valley between Canterbury and Chartham since 12th February, which must be unprecedented. With great spotted woodpeckers drumming, and a recent run of mild early mornings, I decided to carry out the first breeding bird survey visit today (25th February). The results weren’t brilliant, but then the first couple of visits never are outstanding, and not helped this morning by the onset of rain and wind, but I still managed to record bullfinch and marsh tit, two of our quieter, more reclusive species, so the early start was certainly worthwhile. The contrast with last year’s missing spring couldn’t be more striking: in 2013 my first count wasn’t until 15th March, thanks to the abysmal weather, and not until 19th April did the number of bird registrations exceed what I achieved this morning.