Dungeness Area (1 Viewer)

Had a superb day in the Dungeness area today, after a while the 1st winter Iceland gull(lifer/year tick) showed well sat on the sea from the point and very little else was of note here except a few Guillemots and Razorbills, c50 Common Scoter, 1 R T Diver, 4 Gannet and a few Kittiwakes. On Walland marsh there were c30 Linnet (year tick) c20 Corn buntings, 2 Yellowhammer, 8 Bewick's Swan including 2 Juvs, and an evening visit produced superb views of 3 Barn owls and 1 male Hen harrier and 6 Marsh harrier went to roost. Also had a Black-necked grebe on Dengemarsh which was a year tick.
This all bought my 2009 list to 136 and my life list to 205 (BOU)

A nice Iceland Gull wasn't it? - there were also several Med Gulls on the patch. On my usual RSPB walk we had both Slavonian (Xmas Dell Hide) & Bn Grebe and a Peregrine, but the Red-crested Pochard that had been about 15 minutes earlier had disappeared by the time we looked. Good to hear a Cetti's singing - let's hope the snow doesn't return! Bittern were also seen a number of times and there was a fly-over Raven (a good Kent bird) in the morning. Given the freezing conditions elsewhere in the UK I was surprised that there were relatively few ducks around and only 3 Smew (though I didn't look on the ARC). Small birds were also "thin on the ground", but Stonechat performed well.

The next guided walk (Birdwatching for Beginners) is on 22nd March although there are plenty of activities on for half term - 18th Feb onwards (see website for details),

I was wondering who had the Raven, would of like to have added that to my kent list, oh well!