15th January

Dungeness Area

Today we visited the Dungeness are in south east Kent as we were driving down the temperature dropped as we drove over the weald a stop for breakfast at a little Chef this is one of the ones to be closed so will need to find somewhere else in future after breakfast we headed for Walland marsh, Near Lydd we had a small flock of Lapwing and Golden Plovers plus Common Gulls in a field we then continued  to a spot we know for Tree Sparrow where we found some on the feeders and in the trees nearby on crossing the marsh we had a flock of 49 Bewick’s Swans  as the farmer has done a lot of clearing around the barn area  no sign of Corn Bunting or Yellowhammer, Our next stop was the RSPB reserve centre here we checked the list to see what was about we then took a walk around part of the reserve stopping at a couple of the hides hopping to see Pintail but we had no luck all day with this bird (there was a group of wildfowlers being show around  the guy leading them was a bit over the top he was making more noise telling them about the ducks and other birds than the group themselves) birds seen on the way to Christmas Dell hide included Little Egret, Shovler, Gadwall, Wigeon, Cormorant, just as we were approaching  the hide Bob found a Raven from the hide we had 2 Red Head Smew then the group arrived so we moved on stopping at Denge marsh hide where had a Marsh Harrierso it was now back to the car, Meadow Pipit was added to the list we then stopped near the wardens house where we had more Tree Sparrows then it was off to the car park at the ARC pit we walked to the shelter hide here we had 2 more red head Smew  bob also had a Drake Smew then it was off to the main hide after talking to some birders there we found the bird we had come for the Long Tailed Duck but no sign of the Great White Egret that had been seen earlier in the day we had a quick look at the pit from the road but added no more birds to the list, We now decided to have a look at the sea taking in the flocks of Gulls on route, our sea watch produced 40+ Gannets, Guilimot, Razorbill, Brent Geese, lots of Kittiwake and 14+ Red Throated Diver’s ,we stopped to have a look at the Gull’s again but no sign of the Glaucous Gull, We now decided to return to Walland marsh and have a look at the spot for raptors  hoping for a Barn Owl with no luck but we did watch the Marsh Harrier’s coming into roost we had 10 in the air at once, It was a cold day not as cold as some we have had in past years< And so another good days birding comes to a end, Have arranged o go to the Isle of Sheppey next Sunday