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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At Dungeness the two Little Gulls and the pair of Red-crested Pochard, with the brood down to one, remained. A Caspian Gull was seen at Bough Beech while a Yellow-legged Gull was at Cliftonville. A Ruddy Shelduck was at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve.
Green Sandpipers have started to return from their breeding grounds while there were some early returning Willow Warblers at coastal locations as well.
Last year the Bonapartes Gull returned to Oare on the 21st of June already, so, hoping that it returns for its 14th year, that could be something to look forward to in the coming week. Good luck.
(Thanks to all the observers who posted their records on the KOS Sightings website, BirdGuides, eBird and/or the main Kent Birding WhatsApp groups, Thursday-to-Thursday. Apologies for any omissions. If anyone has any photos they think may be useful for the weekly, please send to me by Wednesday. All records of rarities are still subject to official confirmation by the relevant rarities committees)