Kent Ornithological Society Providing information about birds and birdwatching in Kent (Registered charity 21489)

• Peter Eerdmans
• 19-Jun-2025
• Weekly highlights

Hobby - Terry Laws

As the weather warmed up, the birding got expectedly a bit quieter. An immature Golden Oriole was seen and heard at Reculver on the 17th.  As so often with this attractive species it only stayed around briefly. It has been a good spring for Black Kites, with another flying into the county at Dover on the 17th, while about the 10th Bee-eater of the Spring flew over Kingsdown on the 19th. 

Intriguingly, two Cranes were seen again, this time circling over Haysden CP on the 14th

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• Martin Collins
• 17-Jun-2025
• All news

In this video the KOS Chair Andre Farrar describes the importance of protecting Old Park, Canterbury and its role in giving a home to some of Kent's (and the UK's) most threatened species.

For more details of the campaign to save Save Old Park & Chequers Wood in Canterbury please visit the Friends' website and don't forget if you visit the site to submit your bird sightings.

• Peter Eerdmans
• 11-Jun-2025
• Weekly highlights

Rose-coloured Starling – Martin Casemore

Another week and another very rare bird in Kent. A Western Orphean Warbler was found on the 11th near Cliffe singing and showing well. It was found during a survey on private land and access for more birders was unfortunately not granted. If accepted this would be the first record for Kent! Another good record was a beautiful adult Rose-coloured Starling that performed well at Dungeness near the Observatory also on the 11th. 

The south-westerly winds provided some sea-watching opportunities, with two Balearic Shearwaters past Dungeness the best of the bunch. This however wasn’t a new bird for the Kent year list as we had a very unseasonal sighting in January already. Good numbers of Manx Shearwater (with 27 past Dungeness on the 7^th) and Arctic Skua were also seen.

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• Martin Collins
• 9-Jun-2025
• Survey news

A national BTO survey of heathland birds (Nightjar, Woodlark and Dartford Warbler) is taking place this year, in partnership with the RSPB, as detailed in the March and May KOS Newsletters.

Woodlark and Dartford Warbler do not really feature in Kent, mainly due to our lack of heathland, which is generally the preferred habitat (although some areas do exist around Pembury, Hothfield and on the Blean) so there were only a few squares (1km) to be surveyed. However, Kent does have a population of Nightjars, mostly in woodland habitats, which have been the subject of BTO surveys at intervals in the past (1981, 1992 and 2004), and so, after an interval of 20 years, it will be great to survey Nightjar again and get an update on its status in Kent. In terms of the other species, the occasional pair of Woodlark and Dartford Warbler do sometimes breed, but they are RBBP (Rare Breeding Bird Panel) species and survey effort has mostly been directed to a few local observers for the known potential breeding sites.

The main emphasis in Kent will be to survey Nightjars. The species favours areas of clear-felled and freshly replanted conifers and areas of Sweet Chestnut coppice up to about 3 years of age. It is recommended that anyone volunteering to survey Nightjars should make a daytime recce visit before the survey is undertaken in order to establish if suitable habitat is present, and if so where. This will save time wandering around at dusk during the survey to locate suitable areas.

There are a large number of 1km squares available for survey which cover the main woodlands in Kent where Nightjars do or have occurred. Areas where volunteers are particularly required are:-

Bedgebury Forest

Hemsted Forest

Denge Woods

Blean Woods (particularly south of A2)

West Blean/Thornden Woods

Orlestone Forest

Lyminge Forest (West Wood, Elhampark Wood) 

Volunteers selecting squares (see below for how to do this) will notice that the BTO have attempted to identify areas of suitable habitat and shaded out areas deemed unsuitable. Please ignore this (toggle to remove this feature before printing map) and make a daytime visit (as suggested above) to identify suitable areas. In Kent, the coppicing of chestnut can continue quite late into the season (even early April) so potential areas will likely be missed on the BTO assessments. It will probably be the case that many of the squares do not contain any suitable habitat, in which case please notify the organiser and select another square.

Nightjar survey instructions are given here:-

https://www.bto.org/sites/default/files/nightjar_survey_methods_2025.pdf

In brief, volunteers should make two visits (at least 10 days apart) during the survey period which is (25 May – 31 July) covering either the two-hour period after sunset, or the two hours prior to sunrise. Volunteers are asked to mark locations of any birds recorded on a printed off map with date and time of visit and some basic habitat details.

Update: due to the early arrival of birds this year, the survey period now starts on 20 May

Volunteers are asked to record a few other species if present and to make a note of these, something that may add purpose and interest to visits if there are no Nightjars! The species of concern in Kent are Hobby, Long-eared Owl, Cuckoo, Stonechat, Grasshopper Warbler, Tree Pipit and Linnet.

Sign up

Have a MyBTO account already?

• Log in and sign up to the survey.

Don't have a BTO account?

• Create a MyBTO account and then sign up to the survey.

Once logged in, you will find the survey sign up for the survey in the 'Sign Up for Projects' section.

Request a site

Once signed up, you can request a square via the survey portal.

• Log in to the survey portal using your MyBTO account details.

Full details of the Nightjar survey can be found on the BTO website for the survey  Heathland Birds Survey | BTO - British Trust for Ornithology

• Chris Roome
• 9-Jun-2025
• Outdoor Meeting Reports

KOS Field Trip - Saturday 7th June 2025

 Ray O’Reilly - KOS Field Trip Organiser writes:-

 ‘We held our June 2025 KOS Field Outing on Saturday the 7th and facing a gloomy weather forecast we chose a trip to Dungeness.

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• Peter Eerdmans
• 5-Jun-2025
• Weekly highlights

White-tailed Eagle – Terry Laws

An Icterine Warbler found singing at North Foreland on the morning of the 30^th was the best bird of the week. Unfortunately only a portion of the local birders connected with the bird as it could not be refound later in the morning.

Further highlights included more of the species we have been enjoying over the past few weeks with a Black Kite flying over Seasalter and later Elmley on the 1^st, a pair of Red-footed Falcons at Stodmarsh on the 30^th and a Bee-eater over Thanet on the 1^st. A White-tailed Eagle from the Isle of Wight reintroduction program was at Elmley on the 3^rd and 4^th.  Continuing with the raptor theme, several Honey Buzzards entered the county, mostly over Dover, but singles were also seen at Hope Point and Seasalter. At Oare there were four Curlew Sandpipers on the morning of the 3^rd. A Quail, the first recorded for the year, was flushed from a garden near Sandwich Bay on the 31^st, while a Ruddy Shelduck was seen at Cliffe on the 4^th.

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• Peter Eerdmans
• 29-May-2025
• Weekly highlights

Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler – James Dee

Last week’s mega was topped by another this week, an Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler was found in the trapping area near the Dungeness Bird Observatory! The first confirmed record for Kent no less, and only the 9^th for the whole of the UK. Many birders descended on the area during its one day stay. While it had shown well to the initial finder, as the winds picked up, it became increasingly hard to see during the day, with many of those present struggling to get ‘tick-able views’. It did sing almost constantly though and also called its diagnostic ‘chip’ on occasion.

The Dungeness area also enjoyed a Bee-eater which finally showed well on the morning of the 23^rd. As the female Red-footed falcon disappeared from Stodmarsh, one turned up at Dungeness and was seen hawking with the local Hobbies for most of the week. Stodmarsh didn’t have to do without one long, as a second calendar year male Red-footed Falcon showed up on the 26^th.

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• Peter Eerdmans
• 22-May-2025
• Weekly highlights

Black-headed Bunting - Kenton Evans

The rarest bird of the Spring, so far, was found in the early morning of the 18^th at Foreness, a stunning male Black-Headed Bunting. This is only the 7^th record for Kent and the first since 1997! Unfortunately, it was only present briefly before it flew of in an easterly direction. It seemed to land but could not be refound by the (few) birders that tried during the rest of the day.

Langdon Cliff had a purple-patch day on the 16^th when a beautiful male Red-backed Shrike was discovered at Fox Hill Down. It could be elusive but showed on and off very well throughout the day. Some birders looking for it were rewarded with a fly-over female Red-footed Falcon, while later in the day a Black Kite flew in off the sea.

Red-backed Shrike – Jamie Partridge

Further highlights include a Montague’s Harrier (ringtail) that was seen at Dungeness in the morning of the 19^th and two Common Cranes that crossed the county on the 20^th (seen at Hamstreet and Littlestone). A Black-crowned Night-heron was heard and confirmed by a sound-recording at Dungeness around 10pm on the 20^th.

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• Peter Eerdmans
• 15-May-2025
• Weekly highlights

Whiskered Tern – Martin Casemore

The dry, sunny weather with easterly winds persisted. It seems to result in fewer commoner migrants stopping over in Kent (e.g. we have had very few flycatchers or Whinchats this spring), but the good run of rare birds continued. Two species that require a BBRC description for formal adoption were discovered: on the 11^th a male Kentish Plover spent the morning at Pegwell Bay (a report on the 13^th is thought to be erroneous), while on the 13^th a mobile Whiskered Tern visited pretty much every lake and gravel pit around Dungeness RSPB, giving the locals a run-around. It was seen till about 19.30 in the evening. A nice summer-plumaged adult, this was the 19^th record for Kent. The same, or a second bird, was seen the next day at Worth for a few minutes.

There were plenty of other good birds around. The first ‘KOS day at Dunge’ on the 10^th coincided with four skua species being recorded past the sea-watching hide. Particularly a Spring record of Long-tailed Skua is very good. A Bee-eater and White Stork were also seen flying over in the area that day.

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• Peter Eerdmans
• 8-May-2025
• Weekly highlights

Western Bonelli’s Warbler – Neil Davis

A Western Bonelli’s Warbler cemented an excellent week in the Sandwich/Worth area. Only the 12^th for Kent, the Western Bonelli’s Warbler was singing actively near the Observatory on the 8th, spending most time in the so-called Oasis. It also called occasionally which clinched the ID. It followed several good sightings in the area during the week. A mini-influx of Red-footed Falcons was very exciting as well with at least three seen in the area, with a male and a female spending the day around Great Wood, Worth on the 5^th. The second Temminck’s Stint of the Spring was at Minnis flood, Worth on the 7^th, a Golden Oriole sang briefly at Great Wood, a Hoopoe flew past as did an Osprey earlier in the week. And finally, a Hooded Crow spent an afternoon around the Aspargus fields at Sandwich. Following some good birds in recent weeks at Dungeness and North Foreland, it was clearly Sandwich Bay’s turn this week!

But there were good birds elsewhere. The best of which was 2^nd year male Montague’s Harrier that lingered briefly at Reculver on the 2^nd.

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