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Caspian gull

Caspian Gull – Dungeness – Martin Casemore

Amazingly the Pintail record from two weeks ago (which was breaking a previous record from 2006) was broken within two weeks! A brilliant 3705 Pintails flew past Dungeness on the 7th, with 474 Shoveler in tow. Conditions were good, but increased observer coverage in early Spring over recent years might also be a contributing factor.

Another ‘white-winger’ showed briefly, this time a first-winter Glaucous Gull touched down at Foreness Point on 7 March. Other than that, sea-watching around the county delivered Slavonian Grebes past Tankerton on 11th and past Sandwich on 13th, plus a Great Northern Diver past Cliftonville on 11th. The Serins remained on view at Restharrow Scrape early in the week but haven’t been reported after the 9th. A White-tailed Eagle from the Isle of Wight re-introduction project was at Dungeness on the morning of the 13th.

Spoonbill

Spoonbills – Oare – Peter Eerdmans

In a week with lots of glorious sunshine, the best new birds only showed briefly. A juvenile Iceland Gull only spent a few minutes at Swalecliffe on 28 February while a Common Crane flew off shortly after being discovered at Elmley on 1 March. The Serins were more accommodating resurfacing at Restharrow Scrape, Sandwich Bay on 2 March after hiding from view for 10 days. Two males and a female showed well at times, with the males starting to sign softly.

Pintails

Pintails – Dungeness – John Young

Highlight of the week was a record passage of Pintail past Dungeness on 21 February. An amazing total of 994 were counted, surpassing the previous record of 860 in 2006. With the strong southerly winds, there was a nice support cast as well, with two Sooty Shearwaters, several Velvet Scoters and Eider and large flocks of Brent Geese recorded on various days.

With the slightly warmer weather from the South, there was certainly some early bird movement, also outside of sea-watching. The first, and very early, Sand Martin of the Spring was seen on 21st over Bough Beech with two a couple of days later at Grove Ferry. A calling Stone-curlew on the evening of the 25th over Dungeness Bird Observatory was also an early surprise. More expected perhaps was a Woodlark past North Foreland, while a White Stork flew over Godmersham.

Serin  – Sandwich Bay – photo John Neighbour

Highlight of the week was the discovery of four Serins in a Linnet flock at Restharrow Scrape, Sandwich Bay, on 18 February. Often only recorded as a fly-over, a group of four, comprising two males and two females, was certainly noteworthy and a patch tick even for some of stalwarts of Sandwich Bay.

Sea-watching picked up as the week progressed. Highlights were 450 Kittiwake on the 19th, Red-Necked Grebes on the 18th and 20th and a Sooty Shearwater on the 20th, all past Dungeness. There were also a couple of Black-throated Divers (St Margeret’s and Dover), two Great Northern Divers (Foreness and Dungeness) and an Eider and early Sandwich Tern also past Dungeness.

red necked grebe

Red-necked Grebe  – Oare – photo Mark Chidwick

Easterly winds persisted throughout the week, with temperatures staying low, below freezing on some nights. It didn’t lead to a big movement of winter birds, say from the continent into Kent, but two new Red-necked Grebes were nice and stuck around longer than those seen in January. One was at Oare for three days on the Swale as well as into the mouth of Faversham Creek, while the other was with Great-crested Grebes offshore at Hythe.

A female (red-head) Smew was discovered at Dengemarsh, the first for Dungeness since January 2022. Interestingly, one of the old guard at Dungeness looked back in his records and noted 29 Smew on Burrowes in January 1984..

black necked grebe

Black-necked Grebe  – Dungeness – photo Richard Hanman

The days are getting a little brighter, the sun is out a little more. Mistle Thrushes are singing, and Great Crested Grebes are getting fuller crests. But it is still cold and we are far from Spring, which meant little change in the bird highlights over the week. On eBird, for instance,  there was no new bird added to the Kent year-list in the past seven days.

Two good birds, but of probably ‘untickable’ origin, were a White-tailed Eagle over Bough Beach on the 3rd and the long-staying Lesser White-fronted Goose at the Swale NNR. Two Glossy Ibis on the 5th for 10 minutes on the West Flood at Oare Marshes were also good as there hasn’t been a regular Glossy this winter in Kent so far.

kittiwake

Kittiwake – Dungeness – photo Martin Casemore

The best sighting of the week was a group of eight Twite that flew West over Coldharbour Lagoon on 25 January, a rare bird in Kent these days. Hopefully they can be re-found somewhere, a few used to winter on the Stoke Saltings on the Hoo Peninsula..

With very strong winds on several days in the past week, sea-watching seemed a decent option. The best sightings were three Sooty Shearwaters past the Dungeness sea-watching hide on 28 January.

whitefronts

White-fronted Geese – Swale NR – photo Richard Hanman

Even as the weather stayed cold and grey, there were still a few good birds to be found in Kent. Two Tundra Bean Geese on Sheppey from 21 January were the best of the bunch and the first for the year in Kent (although two had been seen earlier very close to the Kent border at Scotney). A Balearic Shearwater past North Foreland was also a first for the year and very unseasonal, with also a Black-throated Diver flying past that day (16 January).

Long-tailed Duck, Dungeness - photo Peter Maton

In a week that remained very cold, the birds around Kent stayed relatively stable. The Eurasian Scops Owl at Broadstairs continued to be very elusive with the only sighting on 9 January. Last week's Iceland Gull stayed on till the next morning, showing just south of Deal Pier also on 9 January.

The winter ducks proved more cooperative with the Smew on show all week at Seaton GPs (although it could at times hide near the banks of the lake). The Long-tailed Duck remained on New Diggins at Dungeness while the male Scaup was seen again on Collard's lake on most days. A nice group of 22 Goosanders graced Bough Beech. 

Smew

Smew, Seaton GPs – photo Richard Collins

The two star birds from last week lingered into this reporting period, but were tough to connect with. The American Yellow Warbler at New Hythe was last seen the morning of 3 January. Despite extensive searching, it wasn’t seen on subsequent days. While the weather got a little bit colder, it still was a surprise that it would have moved on at this time of year. Perhaps it has perished, or, more hopefully, maybe it will be refound in the area in coming days or weeks. The Eurasian Scops Owl is still around, but only shows briefly and irregularly, frustrating observers, some of whom have already tried three or four times to see it. The bird was only seen on 5 and 6 January this week on its favoured fence at Broadstairs cricket ground.

The best new bird for the week was a female Smew at Seaton GPs. This is a rare bird these days in Kent, with some winters where there are no records at all. This female may be the same individual that was seen earlier in the winter at Worth Marshes. Another good sighting was a juvenile Iceland Gull at Deal Beach on 9 January.

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