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KOS days at Dungeness - by Andre Farrar

Dunge

I’m delighted to announce that KOS have an agreement to run a series of open days at the Dungeness RSPB Visitor centre.

After the closure of the shop, everyone is keen to develop a new programme of events and activities that are attractive to the reserve’s visitors and can bring in new ones. For KOS this is a great opportunity for us to develop a physical presence and meet more of our members (and prospective members) face to face.

Our first date is Sunday 11 May 2025 – spring is one of the best times to be at Dungeness. You’ll have the chance to other KOS members and explore Dungeness – we’ll run walks throughout the day.

Further dates for your diaries:

Sunday 17 August is the second open day with the aim of encouraging families to come along.

Sunday 28 September will feature the second Big Kent Bird Migration Watch

KOS Field Trip - Blean, Worth & Sandwich March 25th

Ray O’ Reilly writes:- ‘The  March 2025 Kent Ornithological Society Field Outing took place on March 25th.

It was a splendid Spring day and we saw many butterflies - especially Commas  - as well as 69 species of birds.

Kent Birding – Highlights of the Week – 17 April 2025

BW Stilt

Black-winged Stilt – Martin Casemore

The excellent run of rare and scarce birds showing up in Kent continues. Last week’s Booted Eagle lingered, as hoped, long enough for those assembled at a high vantage point near Cliffsend on Friday morning. It showed twice, before disappearing North around 10.30 am. It was seen later in the week in Norfolk.

A drake Surf Scoter past Dungeness on the 12th was another great sighting, being only the 11th record for Kent. It was first spotted past Beachy Head at 6.51am, which allowed those birding locally at Dungeness to rush over to the coast in time. Right on cue, it was picked out in a group of some 15 Common Scoter an hour later. This was the start of an impressive couple of days for the Dungeness area. A Black-winged Stilt was discovered also on the 12th on Hayfield 1 and lingered for a couple of days. That same day a Goshawk flew over and a Serin was seen twice in the area. A day later, on the 13th, Dungeness joined in on the Hoopoe influx, while a Red-rumped Swallow was discovered at the ARC and spent the remainder of the afternoon at Dengemarsh.

KOS AGM 2025

Photograph - Martin Garwood

KOS 2025 Annual General Meeting
April 30th 7.30pm via Zoom

DucklingWatch - a citizen science project

Mallard brood

Female Mallard with brood - by Hannah Coburn

Despite being the UK's most common duck, there is still a lot we don’t know about Mallards. The UK’s breeding Mallard population has declined by 8% since 2012, but the reasons behind this downward trend are unclear. This spring, researchers at the University of Essex have launched DucklingWatch, a citizen science project in which people across the UK can report their sightings of Mallard broods.

Kent Birding – Highlights of the Week – 10 April 2025

Booted Eagle

Booted Eagle - Jonathan Dodds

An excellent week of birding ended with a true mega: a pale-morph Booted Eagle was picked up by Dave Ellingworth over Broadstairs late afternoon on the 10th. This might become the first accepted record for Kent for this species no less (a record from some years ago is still in circulation with the BBRC). As it circled the wider area, apparently in search of a roosting place, it was seen by many of the local birders. It was last seen close to darkness so hopefully it can be refound.

Excitingly, the influx of Hoopoes continued. After up to five birds were seen last week, Hoopoes showed up at four further locations this week: North Foreland on the 4th, Bough Beech on the 5th, Farringham on the 7th and St Nicolas at Wade on the 9th. Again, the birds didn’t stick around for long, with the Bough Beech bird the most accommodative being twitchable for an afternoon. Other very good birds were a Green-winged Teal at Worth Marshes on the 5th and two Purple Herons at Long Pits, Dungeness on the 10th.

Kent Birding – Highlights of the Week – 3 April 2025

Sand MArtin

Sand Martin – Marc Heath

Early spring continued to deliver a good mix of birds, with an influx of Hoopoe and a Black Kite, but the best bird was another subspecies, an apparent Ashy-headed Wagtail at Worth Marshes identified from photos taken on 29 March. This would only be the fifth record for Kent if accepted. Also known as ‘Italian Yellow Wagtail’, this subspecies breeds in Italy and winters in Central Africa. It is not easy to distinguish from Iberian Wagtail, another rare Yellow Wagtail subspecies, but the lack of a supercilium and darker head in the photo below are certainly supportive.

Kent Birding – Highlights of the Week – 27 Mar 2025

iberian chiffchaff

Iberian Chiffchaff – Dungeness – Martin Casemore

As warmer and colder days alternated and south easterly winds changed to northerly, migration picked up nicely. Sedge Warbler, Willow Warbler, Yellow Wagtail, Whitethroat,Tree Pipit and even a Common Redstart (at Swalecliffe) were all added to the year list in the past week, but the best bird was an Iberian Chiffchaff in the famous garden of South View at Dungeness. Remarkably, it was the 23rd warbler species recorded in this small garden, benefitting from a great position and a birder as the occupant. The bird was on show and calling regularly on the 22nd.

Another good bird, again in the Dungeness area, was a Hoopoe near the Cemex quarry on Kerton Road. It was found on the 25th and still there on the 26th. Furthermore, an Iceland Gull flew past Hope Point, an Osprey was reported flying over Sholden while two Ring Ouzel were at Langdon Hole on the 24th as well as the 26th.

An impressive nocturnal movement of Redwing all over the county on the night of the 25th was another highlight. It must have involved tens of thousands of birds, with this migration even showing up on radar.

BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey (BBS)

BBS is the principal scheme for monitoring the population changes of the common and widespread breeding birds in the UK. The survey involves two early-morning spring visits to an allocated 1-km square, to count all birds seen or heard while walking two 1-km lines (transects) across the square.


Thank you very much to all volunteers who completed a BBS in 2024. Thanks also to those who carried out the Waterways Breeding Bird Survey (WBBS). WBBS extends the methodology of BBS to linear waterways in the county, although carried out on a much smaller scale in terms of the number of sites surveyed.
2024 results summary for BBS in Kent:


A total of 69 one km squares were surveyed in 2024 for BBS, with 59 of these receiving both early (April-mid May) and late visits (mid-May to late June). In 2024 the total number of species recorded from all BBS squares in Kent was 112, compared to 116 the previous year.

Common_Whitethroat_-_Bob_Knight.jpeg 

Common Whitethroat - Bob Knight

The graph below shows the total number of individual birds recorded in both early and late visits for the 30 most abundant species in BBS for Kent last year.
The range of species in the top 30 proved to be the same as that for 2023. Relative positions of individual species are also generally similar to the previous year, a notable exception being Wren which is ranked second in 2024 compared to eighth the previous year. Woodpigeon was again the most numerous species in 2024, with a grand total of 2673 individual sightings from both early and late visits in Kent (the line graph has been truncated in this case).

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In the case of warblers, Chiffchaff, with 547 recorded from both visits, was more numerous than either Blackcap or Whitethroat. For more scarce warblers there were single records in 2024 for both Grasshopper Warbler and Wood Warbler in Kent BBS.
In the case of finches Goldfinch was slightly more numerous than Chaffinch. Sadly, the formerly common Greenfinch does not feature in the graph of the top 30 species, the species having undergone a nationwide population decline since the since the mid-2000s.
BBS also gives the opportunity to record mammals during the survey, and it will perhaps be no surprise that Rabbit was the most frequently encountered species, followed by Grey Squirrel then Red Fox.


BBS in 2025:


67% of BBS squares in Kent are currently allocated to surveyors, this representing a slight increase compared to the previous year. The squares in the following table are vacant and new volunteers are therefore sought, starting in the coming BBS season if possible:

1 KM BBS SQUARE & NEAREST TOWN/VILLAGE
TQ5077 - Erith
TQ9269 - Elmley
TQ6067 - Hartley
TQ9374 - Minster
TQ6248 - Tonbridge
TQ9672 - Minster
TQ6558 - Addington
TQ9861 - Faversham
TQ6846 – Paddock Wood
TQ9872 - Eastchurch
TQ7061 - Snodland
TQ9941 - Ashford
TQ7450 - Coxheath
TR0038 - Kingsnorth
TQ7567 - Chatham
TR0118 - Lydd
TQ7658 - Boxley
TR0129 - Brenzett
TQ8036 - Sissinghurst
TR0172 - Warden
TQ8443 - Headcorn
TR0242 - Willesborough
TQ8452 - Kingswood
TR0438 - Mersham
TQ8754 - Harrietsham
TR0529 - Newchurch
TQ8953 - Lenham
TR0637 - Aldington
TQ9060 - Sittingbourne
TR0835 – Aldington
TQ9137 – High Halden
TR1350 - Petham
TQ9235 - Woodchurch
TR2544 - Lydden

BBS is a very rewarding survey in which to take part, and only requires two visits of approximately two hours each per year. Further details can be obtained via:
https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/bbs/taking-part.

Alternatively, if interested to take on any of the 1 km squares shown in the table please contact Bob Knight for further details: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Major update for Survey News

Chair of the Conservation and Surveys Committee, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. has been busy updating the pages for many of our historic surveys. These together with the information required to take part in this year’s KOS Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and BTO Heathland birds surveys can be found under Survey News.

Other news pages

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The Kent Ornithological Society was founded in 1952

Our aims are to record and monitor the county’s bird life providing both an accurate historical record of Kent’s birds but equally importantly providing data that can be used to help protect valuable habitats from development and other threats.

In doing this, we seek increase knowledge and understanding of birds and their habitats in the county and encourage and support people seeking to take up birdwatching as a hobby.

Membership of the society is open to all and costs £15 a year. Members receive a free copy of the annual Kent Bird Report and regular electronic newsletters. See details

The Society runs regular online talks and an outdoor programme of field meetings. They are opportunities for both beginners and experienced birdwatchers to meet others in the county and to develop their knowledge and skills.

We are a charity regulated by the Charity Commission registered as charity number 212489.

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