within a week. By the first week of October
numbers were down to an odd dozen now and then.
A pair of Barn Owls nested on the edge of our
land north of the farm and another has been
seen three miles north-east at Mayland. A
pair of Kestrels are here regularly but we fear
that their nest in a thicket was destroyed.
Further notes: August 30th 2 Grey Wagtails;
October 7th Chiffchaff in full song; October
9th Green Woodpecker and Lesser Spotted
Woodpecker; October 11th Firecrest seen at 4
foot range feeding on Berberis.
Now we await the arrival of Redwing and
Fieldfare any day.
Final thought - a contributory factor to the
bird scarcity is the almost unrestricted
increase in the Magpie population. Unless
something is done about this there will be no
decent birds left.
J. FRIEDLEIN
AMPHIBIAN AND REPTILE RECORDS, 1989
The amphibian year began with a pond dipping
meeting in Epping Forest on 8th April when I
was asked to help with an E.N.T. "Watch Group"
meeting. The Fairmead pond produced several
Common Newts and from a smaller pond nearby
three Great Crested Newts were netted. Back
at the Conservation Centre pond, Common and