Birding Paradigms: 2012

Sunday 16 December 2012

Dungeness

A fairly quick visit to Dungeness this morning. Started at the RSPB Reserve, where we saw a couple of female Goosander, female Smew (2), a single male and five female Goldeneye, Goldcrest (1) and at least six Tree Sparrow feeding on the well stocked feeders near the visitors centre.

The weather was warm and bright as we made our way to view the 'New Diggings' pit from the road causeway. Here we quickly connected with the already reported single Black-throated Diver and three Great White Egrets as well as a single Little Egret.

We then drove round the coast road and managed to locate the third-winter Glaucous Gull in among a few Great Black-backed Gulls. Walking up to the coastal shingle from the road, we had a look on the sea over a ten minute period and recorded: Gannet (1), Common Scoter (6), Red-throated Diver (6), Guillemot (8), Razorbill (3) and Kittiwake (3).

To complete our visit, we stopped in on the ARC pit where we found another Great White Egret and saw a further three female Smew and a single Marsh Harrier.

Smew

Great White Egret

Monday 12 November 2012

Medway Estuary

Try as we might, both Brenda and I are truly struggling to find time to get out much at the moment. We both had work to do this Sunday, but after all the horrid weather yesterday, we ensured that we managed a couple of hours close to home looking at birds of the Medway Estuary from Motney Hill. I've visited this site many times over the years; but still find myself being amazed at both the numbers and diversity of birds present despite the hoards of dog walkers, cyclists and ramblers!