Brown Booby - John Carnell

Bird of the week was an adult Brown Booby that flew past North Foreland on the 6th, seen and phographed by one of the dedicated locals. If accepted, this will be the fourth record of this species in Kent. It was a busy week in terms of scarcities. A Red-necked Phalarope was discovered on Burrowes at Dungeness on the 9th, while a group of seven Glossy Ibis flew over Stodmarsh on the 4th. Will we see a similar influx of this species as we did last year in September? A Golden Oriole is never easy to see in Kent, so a relatively showy female at Dungeness on the 6th was a nice suprise. Further highlights included a Black-crowned Nigh-heron that was seen flying along the river Darent near Shoreman the evening of the 5th, a juvenile Red-backed Shrike at Worth on the 7th, a Wryneck on the 5th and 10th at Dungeness and another flyover Dotterel, also at Dungeness on the 5th.

Glossy Ibis - Shalley Lewis

Apart from the Brown Booby, there were plenty of other sea-watching highlights. Dungeness had a Grey Phalarope on the 4th, a Sabine's Gull and Greater Scaup on the 7th, another Sabine's on the 8th, a probable Leach's Storm-petrel on the 9th and a Sooty Shearwater on the 4th. A Puffin was on the Swale on the 7th, while at North Foreland a Pomarine Skua and two Roseate Terns were seen on the 7th. A modest number of Balearic Shearwater (also known as Mediterranean) were also seen, mostly past Dungeness.

Golden Oriole - Ross Newham

The White-winged Tern remained at Dungeness till the 5th, while the Bonaparte's Gull remained at Oare and the Purple Heron stayed at Stodmarsh. Wader migration was a bit more modest with only a handful of Little Stint, Wood Sandpiper (including one at Bough Beech on the 4th) and Curlew Sandpiper, but what was likely a new Pectoral Sandpiper at Cliffe on the 10th was good. Honey Buzzards were seen at Dungeness and Stodmarsh, while a few Osprey were seen around the county. A Woodlark flew over Sandwich Bay Area on the 9th. An unseasonal Whooper Swan remained at St George reservoir.

We did get our mega this week, hopefully the next one is twitchable. Good luck!

Peter Eerdmans

 Wryneck - Shane Vale

(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)