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Yesterday 13th February
I went birding with my mate we decided to go east to try and escape from the rain we headed for Dungeness our first stop was the RSPB reserve as this was my first full days birding this year in the UK most birds would be new for the year list and there were a few target birds to see we had a look from the information centre where we had Gadwall, Cormorant, Herring Gull, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Common Gull, Coot, Mallard, then we decided to do the walk around the reserve to see if we could find any of the target birds as we set off I had Pied Wagtail we then stopped in the first hide were we added Great Black Backed Gull, Then we had a look at Christmas dell hide on the way I had Little Egret as we approached the hide we the 2 Ravens that a present in the area (these are my first in Kent) we did have a look for the Firecrest but with no luck as it was quite windy we had a look in the hide just to get out of the wind for a while where we had Teal, Pochard, Shovler, Great Crested Grebe our next stop was the Denge Marsh Hide where there had been reported a Black Necked Grebe and a Red Necked Grebe we found both and had good views as it was now starting to rain but only a drizzle we headed back to the car on the way we had Little Grebe, Canada Goose, Greylag Goose, Reed Bunting, Blackbird, Our next stop was the ARC pits we drove along the road and had a look from the car where we picked up Goldeneye, Black Headed Gull, Moorhen, and on the end of the bushes in the middle we had a Chiffchaff, We then had a look at the long Pit again for Firecrest butr as the rain was a bit heavy now still no luck then we drove to the car park on the ARC pits and walked to the hide where we had Smew, Grey Heron, and more of the same ducks we had seen earlier we did have a walk around the Willow Trail as a Firecrest had been seen there this morning but the wind and the rain made it difficult to see any small birds so no sign of Firecrest today, Our next stop was for another of the target birds Glaucous Gull we knew it was somewhere on the beach near the boats so we stop along the road when we spotted some large gulls coming in but these turned out to be more of what we had already gull wise so we continued along the road until we found another large flock of gulls but still no luck as we were scanning along the shingle beach we could see that the Gannets where very close in so we thought this would be a good sign to do a sea watch later the Bob says there it is flying along the beach so another target bird seen, It was now time for a coffee and a pasty to keep out the cold after we headed for the beach and tried to get some shelter from the wind which was blowing straight at us we could now see why the Gannets where so close as were some of the other birds which included Kittiwake, Guillemot, Razorbill, Red Throated Diver, then Bob called diver flying left when we got a good view we could see it was a Black Throated Diver another good bird to see as we where both at each end of the hide it was difficult to hear one and other I then found a Slavoion Grebe which Bob did not get on but he had already seen Slav grebe in the end the wind drove us back to the car as it was difficult to keep the scope still, So we next had a look at Great stone beach but the tide was to far out to see much did have Oystercatcher, Our next stop was for another of the target birds Purple Sandpiper that Bob had seen last year at Hythe we tried one spot with no luck so we then drove further along the coast to where there were some more rocks and after a short time we found 2 birds now as the rain was setting in and it was getting dark we set of for home so not a bad days birding back in the UK total species seen today was 62