Kent Ornithological Society 
KOS Outdoor Field Meeting Report - Sunday April 30th - Dungeness
Ray O' Reilly - KOS Field Trip Organiser writes:
"The final day of the month produced a Mediterranean feel for the KOS Outdoor Field Meeting to Dungeness, with both glorious weather and birds. It was a day packed with small birds (passerines), many of them newly arrived migrants,mostly singing and display-flighting, and we counted over 30 Sedge and 8 Reed Warblers, 16 Common and 9 Lesser Whitethroats and 18 Reed Buntings.
We met in the car parkwith a bright start of good views of Greenfinch, Chaffinch and some glorious Linnets, and admired our first pair of Egyptian Geese of the day flying over.
We walked the shingle and visited Tanner's and Cook's Pools, where we watched some lovely Common Gulls, Stock Doves, Whimbrel and a pale morph Common Buzzard. A “flyby” Bittern was a treat and later we heard another booming.
A Cuckoo, conveniently perched atop a bush and calling was the first of the year for many of the group, as were Common Terns and elusive Bearded Tits which we saw and admired.
We then drove to the main RSPB reserve and walked to the Hayfields where we picked out a pair of Black-winged Stilts and a pair of Avocets. Redshank and Lapwing were engaging in flight displays and one or two Common Snipe were feeding in the open. A drake Garganey was in with the Common Teal plus a Black-tailed Godwit and a newly arrived(?) Hobby hawked for dragonflies overhead. In addition, a beautiful pair of Glossy Ibis in gleaming plumage were shining iridescent in the sunlight - a spectacular sight. Skylarks were constantly singing and a White Stork that flew by closely was a nice surprise.
Water levels were high on Burrow's Pit but the islands gave us Dunlin in breeding plumage, Turnstone and another Whimbrel along with a selection of commoner gulls. We then headed back to Dungeness Bird Observatory for lunch and a cup of tea and a well earned rest.
After lunch we walked around the moat area spotting superb Stonechats, Northern Wheatears and a magnificent pair of Peregrines that put on an acrobatic show for us.
A sortie down Dengemarsh Road to look for a reported Hooded Crow proved fruitless....................
Finally, we did a seawatch from the Fishing Boats. The first ten minutes were quiet, but things picked up and we saw Common and Sandwich Terns (there was also a flock of 80 smaller birds just too far to be sure - that were likely Arctic Terns(?), Red (2) and (1) Black-throated Divers, a splendid dark morph Arctic Skua, several Gannets and 4 Common Scoter. By the end of the day we had managed 84 species. A great day.
Thanks as always to Dungeness Bird Observatory and especially to Martin Casemore for their assistance in making our day very special.
Ray
(O’Reilly) KOS Field Outings organiser.