Brown Booby - Martin Casemore

Another (or possibly the same) Brown Booby was seen. This time an adult lingered for 30 minutes on the 12th off the fishing boats at Dungeness, feeding with Gannets, allowing for some of the locals to twitch it. There seems to be a mini-influx in the North Sea/Channel area. Dungeness was in any case the place to be this week. On the 14th a Western Bonelli's Warbler was found in the trapping area. It showed well on occasion and could be identified by its call. On the 15th it was caught and ringed soon after which it seems to have moved on. This is the 13th record for the county and the third in as many years. What looked like different juvenile White-winged Tern was discovered on the 14th, frequenting both ARC and Burrowes, with the previous one not seen for a few days. The Red-necked Phalarope stayed till the 15th at Burrowes, while the Wryneck was seen occasionally still at the start of the week. Furthermore, three Long-tailed Skuas (one on the 12th and two together on the 13th) and an adult Sabine's Gull (on the 11th)  flew past during the week.

Western Bonelli's Warbler - Martin Casemore

The rest of the county had to do with a lot less. An at times showy Wryneck at Swalecliffe for most of the week proved an attraction, while a lovely Dotterel was discovered on the beach at Sandwich Bay on the 16th. However, the at times massive hirundine migration was probably the main highlight for many around the coast. For instance, at Dungeness an estimated 18000 Barn Swallows departed south on the 14th, while Bockhill had thousands of House Martins on the 12th. There were still a handful of Curlew Sandpipers around, while a few Ospreys were seen migrating through the county. A Common Crane circled over Seasalter on the 12th. There were two Pied Flycatchers at Northdown Park on the 15th and one at Bockhill on the 12th.

Red-necked Phalarope - David Todd

 Outside the sightings at Dungeness (where also a Pomarine Skua and several Balearic Shearwaters flew past), sea-watching produced a juvenile Long-tailed Skua (on the 16th) and two Pomarine Skua (on the 15th) past North Foreland, while seven Hobbies there flying in off the sea on the 15th were also of interest.

Dotterel - Ian Searle

Can the rest of the county beat Dungeness this coming week? Good luck!

Peter Eerdmans

(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)