Kent Birding Highlights for May 2025

                                                 DUNGENESS  SEAWATCH

                                              3rd May 2025

                                                    

Arctic Skua Dark Phase.

A 4 hour seawatch on the 3rd May at Dungeness was rewarded with

 2 Black-throated Divers, 2 Arctic Skuas (1DP & 1LP), 18 Common Scoters, 6 Bar-tailed Godwits & 50+ Whimbrel as the main highlights.

Common Scoter.

Whimbrel.

NEW HYTHE LAKES

8th May 2025

A walk around New Hythe lakes was very pleasant with plenty of  song birds in full voice, no less then 6 Nightingales were heard & seen plus there was plenty of various Warblers including 2 Garden Warblers which were new for the year.

Nightingale in full voice.

Whilst on my walk round the Lakes news came out of a Bonelli's Warbler sp. at Sandwich Bay, first heard & seen at the Oasis then later in the gardens near the Elms, by the time i got back to my car it had been confirmed as a 

Western Bonelli's Warbler !!!!

SANDWICH  BAY

OASIS

On leaving New Hythe i was in a bit of turmoil of what to do, i have seen WBW very well in the UK before but never in Kent, i was a bit concerned it might be caught, ringed & released before i got there & the chances are it would probably go to ground and unlikely to be seen again.

Thankfully by the time i got there it was still singing in the Oasis but being elusive, i teamed up with Martyn Wilson & Raf and eventually we managed some good views of the Western Bonelli's Warbler .

We heard it Call a couple of times and was constantly singing, i did manage a couple of photos but as ever i was more content watching it when it did appear.

Western Bonelli's Warbler.

Very pleased i made the decision to go for this superb bird and was happy to add it to my Kent & Sandwich Bay bird lists.

OARE MARSHES

12th May 2025

2 Cattle Egrets.

A superb visit to Oare Marshes on the 12th was rewarded with some superb views of  8 Cattle Egrets, 5 near the East flood hide and 3 on the West flood.

There was a good variety of waders on the East flood including a superb spring Temminck's Stint which was found the day before by AF.

Temminck's Stint.

Unfortunately my digi-scope pics don't do this cracking little wader justice, it remained in the middle of the East flood most of the time.

There were 300+ Black-tailed Godwits, 3 Ruff  & 10 Redshanks on the EF plus a single Whimbrel, 35+ Grey Plover & 10 Curlew on the tide line.

We were also treated to a superb Little ringed Plover on the EF later on in the morning.

Adult Little Ringed Plover.

Reed & Sedge Warblers were very vocal and we saw  3 Cuckoo's playing chase over the EF, there was a distant Turtle Dove on the weather vane plus a Nightingale was heard.

Turtle Dove  (Photo taken in 2024)

DUNGENESS  SEAWATCH

17th May 2025

Another failed attempt for Pom Skuas on a seawatch today at Dungeness, but if you don't try you will never see them, it was a quiet morning which was  livened up when 5 Arctic Terns flew past close in, we also saw 4 Manx Shearwaters at middle distance and a very close in Male Eider.

Other birds of note were 50+ Whimbrel, 1 Fulmar, 1 Guillemot, 10+ Razorbills, 5 Common Scoter, 10+ Kittiwakes & 8 Brent Geese.

A stunning male Black Redstart showed on & off along the Power station wall.

Male Black Redstart

DUNGENESS NNR

25th May 2025

Exciting news came out of Dungeness Sunday morning on the 25th May , another Bonelli's Warbler species was found and it was soon confirmed as an

 

EASTERN BONELLI'S WARBLER !!! 

This would be a new bird for me and a first record for Kent (only 10 confirmed records in the UK).

MW picked me up from home and we joined the already assembled birders at Dungeness at approx 12pm, we could hear the EBW singing straight away, we were told it's not been seen since it was more or less first found.

On the positive side it was still present and surely with some patience we will eventually see it......Won't we ????

More and more birders arrived, the who's who of the Kent birding scene was present, it felt strange seeing birding crews from various Kent patches all ascending here, just proved to me the magnitude & enormity of this very rare bird.

The EBW had moved to a different clump of bushes , seen briefly by some as it flew across the path (not by me though).

It remained unseen singing it's heart out for maybe over an hour in these bushes, people tried various different angles & view points to no avail.

Then the EBW moved again, unseen this time, we all got a bit separated, i saw 2 birders cut through the bushes and the EBW flew out over the top of the bushes and vanished again.

I had seen it, apart from a very white belly i didn't see any distinguishing features, frustrating to say the least.

The dance continued with this bird, more & more birders turned up from  further afield, Norfolk & Somerset plus maybe even further, sure i recognised a birder from Durham ?

As the day turned to early evening the EBW became more vocal, MW, SC,  & myself could hear it very close in a little sun trap area, it was just hidden out of view, literally a couple of leaves separated it from us.

Then we were joined by lot's more birders and the EBW flew again, this time i saw a bit more detail.

Near the end of our stay we had one last flight view as the EBW flew across the path in front of us and as it alighted out of view it gave it's very distinctive & diagnostic 

 call.

                                      

Kent Birding Highlights for April 2025

                                               OARE MARSHES

                                                 7th April 2025

                                               

Cattle Egret

A trip to Oare Marshes on the 7th April produced a fly over Cattle Egret which landed on the West Flood, there was various waders on the East Flood including a distant Spotted Redshank.

A walk up to Dan's Dock added my first Wheatear of the year plus Marsh Frogs were in fine voice.

Wheatear.

CLIFFSEND  THANET

11th April 2025

Booted Eagle from 2000.

On the 10th April stunning news of a Pale Morph Booted Eagle showing well in the Thanet area late afternoon, problem was it was being seen in various locations, i decided it was to risky and would most likely disappear by the time i got there.

I was wrong, it was seen well into the evening and eventually was seen going into roost somewhere near Cliffsend.

I made arrangements to meet up with Mw & SC early the next morning (11th) and hope upon hope the Booted Eagle would appear.

I joined MW & SC at a high point looking over Cliffsend & Pegwell Bay, we were joined by 4 other Kent birders including local Birder Craig .S.

After a 3 hour wait Craig picked out the Booted Eagle over Manston, we watched this superb bird for roughly 5 minutes before it flew out of view behind some trees.

We put the news out and were soon joined by lot's more birders, the Booted Eagle eventually reappeared and showed really well , although it was quite distant the views through the scope were really good.

Eventually the Booted Eagle drifted off out of view alongside a Red Kite.

BISHOPSTONE GLENN

13th April 2025

Wryneck.

News of a Wryneck showing well at Bishopston Glenn on the 13th had me heading there and after a short wait i had some very good views of this superb Woodpecker.

Wryneck.

NEW HYTHE LAKES

17th April 2025

Nightingale

Several walks around New Hythe Lakes in April eventually produced some good numbers of Nightingales , including this very showy bird on the 17th April.

OARE MARSHES

21st April 2025

Egyptian Goose

A visit to Oare Marshes on the 21st April & the target bird today was a Ring Ouzel that had been found by MW earlier that morning.

On the walk towards Uplees 2 Egyptian Geese  flew past and a Great White Egret was seen on the West Flood , a distant Bittern was also heard 'Booming'.

Great white Egret

We eventually reached the area the Ring Ouzel had been found and thankfully it was still present and showing well, there was also 2 Wheatears nearby.

Ring Ouzel

Other birds of note were Bar tailed Godwit, Whimbrel & 2 Little terns on the Swale plus 500+ Med Gulls & a Juv Kittiwake was a surprise bird flying up the Swale. 

St. OSYTH in ESSEX

27th April 2025

Female Dotterel

Ok i confess, this last report is not a Kent highlight !!!!, but a 'Trip' into Essex on the 27th April was rewarded with 4 Dotterel (1♀ & 3♂).

These stunning birds were seen really well going about their business feeding & sleeping in a pea field.

Dotterel

Kent Birding Highlights for March 2025

                                                   BOSSENDEN WOODS

                                            10th March 2025

                                                                 

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker  Photo from 2020.

A walk around Bossenden Woods on the 10th March produced some really good views of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker with both ♂ & ♀ birds seen well.

We also saw & heard 5+ Firecrests, several Nuthatch & Coal Tits plus Treecreeper was heard & seen.

Nuthatch.

                                         St.Peter's Church Ditton

                                     20th & 27th March 2025

                                                      

Hawfinch.

My first visit to St.Peters Church produced some cracking views of at least 3 Hawfinch on both visits.

Superb male bird.

Other birds seen & heard around the Churchyard were Firecrest, Goldcrest, Mistle Thrush, Stock Dove, Chiffchaff & several Common Buzzard overhead.

Hawfinch

MY GARDEN

24th March 2025

Black Redstart.

I was getting ready to head to Oare Marshes on Monday 24th March and at about 06.35am i looked out my kitchen window and couldn't believe my eyes as i saw a flash of a red tail as this superb Black Redstart flew down off the fence onto the grass to feed.

Black Redstart.

This is the 2nd Black Redstart i have seen from my garden, 1 at my old address many years ago & now this one in my new home.

NEW HYTHE

31st March 2025

Song Thrush

A walk around New Hythe lakes on the 31st March produced lot's of birds in song, and we noticed a good number of  Song Thrush around the lakes.

We checked out the river and were rewarded with Green Sandpiper, 3 Oystercatcher's & a new site tick : Black tailed Godwit.

Black Tailed Godwit

We heard several Cetti's Warblers, Chiffchaff's & Blackcaps.

Blackcap.

There were a few butterflies on the wing including this delightful Peacock.

Peacock.

 

Kent Birding Highlights for February 2025

                                            ELMLEY MARSHES 

                                          1st February 2025

                                                        

Ruff.

A trip to Elmley Marshes on the 1st February was very rewarding with a nice view of a Ruff along the entrance track among 100's of Lapwing's .

Plenty of Marsh Harriers & Common Snipe were also seen.

On reaching the car park there was already Short-eared Owl activity with 2 birds roosting in plain sight.

2 Short-eared Owls.

I saw 5+ Short-eared Owls on my visit here giving a wonderful display, there was one which had damage to it's primaries but it didn't seem to hinder it at all thankfully.

SEO with damaged primaries.

I also saw 2 Brown Hares including probably my closest view yet of one.

Brown Hare.

OARE MARSHES

8th February 2025

Red necked Grebe

News of a Red necked Grebe at Oare marshes peaked my interest on the 8th February but i couldn't get there until later in the afternoon.

I finally managed to get there and picked out the Red necked Grebe just to the west of the slipway in the company of 2 Great crested Grebes, giving a nice comparison.

This is only my 2nd ever Red necked Grebe at OM.

I was also really pleased to see one of the three Barn Owls hunting over the back of the East flood.

Barn Owl.

RESTHARROW SCRAPE

18th February 2025

3 of the 4 Serins.

News of 2+ Serins showing near the 2nd hide at Restharrow Scrape had me heading there asap, Serin is a tricky bird to see in Kent often just fly overs on migration.

I had only ever seen 1 Serin in Kent before , a singing male bird at Littlestone.

However that was soon to change, as i eventually set eyes on not 2 but 4 Serins in flight, they had flown over the bank & out of sight which i was assured they did all the time but would come back !!!!!

Well i gave it a bit of time (roughly 40 mins) but they never reappeared so i headed off to try and see the SEO which i did, plus a Barn Owl was seen distantly.

I went back for another try for the Serins and after a few minutes 3 Serins flew in (2 males & 1 female).

It has since been confirmed there were 2 males & 2 females.

Male Serin

Female Serin

Male Serin.

PENSHURST CHURCH

22nd February 2025

Hawfinch

Penshusrt Church is not a location i have been to before and hearing that Hawfinch were being seen there most mornings made up my mind to try somewhere new.

4 of the 15 Hawfinch 

Hawfinch.

DUNGENESS & SCOTNEY

22nd February 2025

From Penshurst we headed to Dungeness and had a look over the sea adding, Fulmar, Gannet, Red Throated Diver & a 1st w Caspian Gull.

There was also a Black Redstart showing well on the power station wall.

Black Redstart

A look from Dennis hide on the Rspb reserve produced 2 more Caspian Gulls & a walk over to the Arc pit gave us a treat with a superb Redhead Smew !!!

Smew.

We were then informed that there was a probable female Scaup by the double bends on Scotney, so without haste that was the next destination.

And sure enough a female Scaup was soon being added to my days total.

Female Scaup.

OARE MARSHES

24th February 2024

Pintail

My final trip out in February was to Oare Marshes, very close views of the superb Pintails near the pull-in was great to see.

Pintail

The weather wasn't the best to start with , grey sky's & rain plus feeling quite chilly , we took shelter in the seawatch hide and added plenty of waders & Brent Geese.

The weather cleared up a bit so we walked around the East flood, a Cattle Egret was picked out flying overhead heading towards the West flood where it dropped down out of sight.

Cattle Egret (Photo from 2024)

On reaching the East Flood hide the first bird seen was a superb Water Pipit right in front of the hide.

Water Pipit

We spent quite a bit of time watching this bird plus there were a few Common Snipe showing well nearby.

There were 5 Spoonbills asleep on the island which got spooked by the volunteers doing some scrub clearance on the EF.

All 5 Spoonbills flew towards the pull in & thats where we headed to try and get a closer look.

5 Spoonbill

A final look from the slipway looking towards Sheppy produced 2 Barn Owls & just when we were about to leave Chiddy picked out 2 male & 3 female Red Breasted Mergansers near Horsesands.