Kent Ornithological Society Providing information about birds and birdwatching in Kent (Registered charity 21489)

pre-1792

The ornithologist Boys lists a single record prior to this year, though no further details are known.

1844

Swingfield Minnis, single bird, shot, date unknown.

pre-1893

Lydd, single bird, shot, date unknown.

pre-1899

Fredville, adult female, shot, date unknown.

1950

Cowden, female, 7th October.

1954

Site withheld, adult, 11th September.

Another, same site, immature, 15th December.

1955

Site withheld, probably same bird as December previous year, 2nd April.

1958

Same site as 1954 and 1955, female, 11th October.

1962

Sandwich Bay, single females, 22nd April and 10th June, possibly same bird.

1965

Leysdown/Capel Hill, single bird, 25th June.

Northward Hill, 14th-21st November.

1966

High Halstow, female trapped and ringed, 20th November.

1967

Northward Hill, female, 29th January.

Northward Hill, possibly same female, three occasions between 5th February and 4th March.

1968

Sandwich Bay, single bird, 6th October.

1970

Sandwich Bay, single bird, 18th October.

1977

Reculver, female, 1st December.

1978

St. Margaret’s, single bird, 29th October.

1979

Stodmarsh, single bird, 4th April.

1980

Sandwich Bay, one in off sea, 19th October.

1982

Ightham, single bird taking Wood Pigeon, 5th November.

1983

Foreness, single bird found dead, 12th April.

Wye, single bird, picked up injured, 26th December.

1984

Shorne, single bird, 30th October.

1986

Warehorne, female, 24th April.

1988

Godmersham, single bird, 8th February.

Conningbrook, single bird, 26th February.

Foreness, single bird west, 1st April.

Seaton, single bird, 2nd November.

Dungeness, single bird west, 31st October.

1991

West recording area, site withheld, male displaying, 14th January.

St. Margaret's, immature south-west, 16th March.

Bough Beech, female, 10th April.

Stodmarsh, single bird, 8th September.

St. Margaret's, male, 8th October.

1992

West Malling, immature taking Blackbird, 5th March.

1994

West recording area, site withheld, throughout year. Pair probably bred.

1995

West recording area, same site as 1994 withheld, Pair throughout year. Probably bred.

East recording area, site withheld, male displaying,12th April

Central recording area, site withheld, male displaying, 13th September.

1996

West recording area, same site as 1994 and 1995 withheld. Pair throughout year. Probably bred.

Barksore, single bird, 23rd February.

Reculver, single bird, 14th-15th September.

Dungeness Reserve, single bird, 25th October.

1997

Reculver, female, 9th February.

1998

Dungeness Observatory, male, 7th April.

1999

Cliffe Pools, single bird, 19th March.

Grove Ferry, single bird, 16th April.

Hadlow, single bird, 10th May.

Dungeness, single bird, 25th May.

West, single bird, 19th August.

Grain, single bird, 22nd September.

2005

Northdown Park, 31st January.

2007

New Barn, 14th December.

2008

Sandwich Bay BO, one south, 15th November.

2011

Sandling Park, Hythe, single bird, 9th January.

2012

Undisclosed site, pair, 8th March.

Cliffe, North Quarry, female, 15th March.

2013

Northward Hill RSPB, single bird, 21st April.

2014

Stodmarsh, single bird, 11thApril.

West sector, juvenile, 23rd August.

2018

Warden Point, single bird, 29th March.

Dungeness, single bird, 19th April.

Dengemarsh, single bird, 28th April.

2019

Mid-Kent, a pair raised a single chick, the first record of successful breeding in the county.

A male was seen at Shottenden on Feb 29^th. One or two (male and female) were at Bough Beech on several dates during 1^st-16^th March. A female was seen in the Canterbury ring woods on 16^th-18^th May.

A regular male, now third-calendar year, was in Mid-Kent, paired with a second-calendar year female in the same area as 2019, but a new nest was built and the pair successfully reared two females. At a different site in Mid-Kent a juvenile male was seen on two dates in August and a juvenile female on one date in August. This area is suitable breeding habitat and clearly a pair bred here too.

The first sighting in 2021 came from Bough Beech on Jan 7th, and a pair were seen displaying there on Jan 29th. There were further sightings of up to two birds on and off throughout February and March in that area. On Feb 13th a sub-adult male was seen over Goathurst Common. The only coastal records of the year came from Bockhill on Mar 13th. and Hythe on Mar 31st. On Mar 22nd one was seen over Canterbury. In April there were records from South Blean Woods on the 4th, Bough Beech on the 12th and Hadlow Place Farm on the 24th. Thereafter there were sporadic records from Bough Beech in almost every month with the last on Dec 12th.