Trip reports

Dungeness RSPB Reserve

Thursday, 15 October 2009

A clear quite sunny day with a slight, at times chilly, north-east breeze. The previous two nights had been clear, so there was no build-up of migrants, and the reserve bird sightings and our list of 43 species reflected this. We went round the reserve, and after a later than intended lunch visited the ARC pit for waders - Lapwing and Golden Plover with a couple of Dunlin.
The obvious highlight was the Great White Egret at Dengemarsh. We'd watched birds in that area for perhaps half-an-hour and had just been told the bird was still around, when this elegant white bird (almost as big as a Grey Heron) suddenly emerged from behind the reeds and then after posing for us flew quite low but completely visible for a short distance - superb! Unusual, but much less spectacular, was a rather distant Black Kite.
In the shingle gorse and scrub areas there were Robins and Dunnocks, rather than Warblers; other species included a small covey of Red-legged Partridge, a few Stonechat, and a small flock of brilliant Goldfinch on thistles. A flock of Gulls at rest prompted a discussion of the relative sizes of Crow, Lesser and Great Black-backed, and of the variation of leg colour of winter Lesser Black-backed.
Other sightings included good views of various wildfowl, a brief view of a Black-necked Grebe for a couple of us, great views of both female and male Marsh Harriers, and just a very few Swallows.