Kent Birding (1 Viewer)

[ben_lewis]

I have recently moved from Norfolk to Kent and find it quite odd that Kent does not have its own thread here on Birdforum for sightings, advice and general postings. There are many different websites with individual patches covered but I thought it may be good to have it all in one place, ie here.

I reside in East Kent and have Pegwell/Sandwich as my regular patch, also birding the Stour Valley, Thannet and Deal area. I'll try to update regularly and I hope others will contribute too.

Pegwell today;
1 Pale bellied Brent
300+ Golden plover, (no sign of small, dark underwinged individual today)
20+ blackcaps
18 Chiffchaff
Also reported-
Jack Snipe
crossbill (North)

Yesterday- a brief Richards Pipit over Sandwich heading South calling.

Cheers,

 

[Cheshire Birder]

I have recently moved from Norfolk to Kent and find it quite odd that Kent does not have its own thread here on Birdforum for sightings, advice and general postings.

Quite strange for one of the top birding counties. Maybe people tend to stick to particular sites/areas.

CB

 

[ben_lewis]

Maybe...We'll have to wait and see, maybe it'll get used once its found.
Todays news from Pegwell;
1 Glossy Ibis over North (missed by a few seconds by me!)
15 Crossbill N
23 Siskin SW
2 Redpoll N
A lot more Dunnocks seemed to be around first thing this morning, migrants or just being more showy than in recent times.
upwards of 50 swallows moving throughout the day
8 Stock Doves moving high S

 

[totaljohn]

1 female or juv wheatear feeding in front of tyler at sevenoaks today. didn't know where to put it really, but i'm under the impression that it's a fairly good bird for the reserve. not many people seem to use the kent forum but, thought i may aswell put it down somewhere.

also at least 12 snipe.

actually it occurred to me after i spotted a stonechat at bough beech a couple of weeks ago. i just assumed it must have been seen by the regulars that seem to sit there all day and didn't realise it was such a good bird to appear at bough beech, i walked off a way and on returning there seemed to be quite a bit of excitement. "there's a stonechat down there!" "oh, i know," "it's a good bird for the reserve." apologies. sort of got me thinking i should be a bit more proactive.

 

[ben_lewis]

A good inland find there then John and thanks for posting.

Yesterday morning at Pegwell saw a good overhead movement, highlights being well over 70 siskin N in small flocks, 38 Crossbill N in 2 flocks and a single redpoll sp N too, I also heard a small flock of Bullfinch (2-4) in stonelees, not sure how regular they are there? In the evening the vis mig was still apparent with good numbers of mipits and skylarks moving through, also the pale bellied brent was showing well in front of the hide as the sun was dissapearing, along with a marked increase in waders and ducks.

 

[David FG]

A good inland find there then John and thanks for posting.

Yesterday morning at Pegwell saw a good overhead movement, highlights being well over 70 siskin N in small flocks, 38 Crossbill N in 2 flocks and a single redpoll sp N too, I also heard a small flock of Bullfinch (2-4) in stonelees, not sure how regular they are there? In the evening the vis mig was still apparent with good numbers of mipits and skylarks moving through, also the pale bellied brent was showing well in front of the hide as the sun was dissapearing, along with a marked increase in waders and ducks.

Bullfinch were regular in small numbers back when I used to be a regular - 15 years or so ago - I haven't been for a while, so I don't know about now.

 

[John Cantelo]

Hi Ben,

I think one of the main reasons why Kent hasn't featured in its own thread before is that many locals (and doubtless "foriegners" too) have tended to go onto the excellent KOS webpage (http://www.kentos.org.uk/). Not that there's not room for both to report bird news from the county and I'm sure there will be those who will want to post here,

 

[ben_lewis]

Fair enough John, i had not quite found the forum there yet, I guess thats where the majority of Kent birders go.
Maybe i should have a better look at your website, see you there probably.

1 Glossy Ibis in a private field today, unfortunatly not viewable from public rights of way.
A few siskins and crossbills moving this morning plus 1 redpoll sp over Pegwell and much more wader and duck activity out on the mud.

 

[David FG]

Hi Ben,

I think one of the main reasons why Kent hasn't featured in its own thread before is that many locals (and doubtless "foriegners" too) have tended to go onto the excellent KOS webpage (http://www.kentos.org.uk/). Not that there's not room for both to report bird news from the county and I'm sure there will be those who will want to post here,

And there's also the 'Planet Thanet' site, here:

http://www.planetthanet.org/

 

[ben_lewis]

Day off today so decided to spend the day birding. After seeing the weather forecast for today and seeing that it rang true (cloudy morning with drizzle clearing to a sunny afternoon) it was a little dissapointing not to see the numbers of migrants expected. Spent the first part of the morning looking for the Raddes at SBBO after seeing it very briefly last night, no joy today however. Highlights were 12 Brambling over, merveille de jour and Clancy's Rustic.
St Margrets at Cliffe yielded 1 firecrest, 2 dartford warblers and a showy wryneck.
Nice day and a good selection of scarce.

 

[ben_lewis]

Less viz mig today, although there were finally some goldcrests around today in Stone lees. Only a short time spent birding today, but managed
5 Goldcrest
1 Firecrest
1 Little Gull
1 Avocet
20+ Song thrush

Late news from yesterday- 2 Glossy Ibis flew South at 5.30pm past the cooling towers opposite pegwell. I was driving at the time but am 99% certain with the ID- medium sized dark birds flying with necks outstreached with shallow wing beats, clearly not Cormorants, not sure what else they could be.

 

[joannec]

Hi Ben

I noticed this thread when you first began it. I'll contribute occasionally, as an East Sussex birder who occasionally ventures into Kent, mainly the Dungeness area. I get there on average about once a month. Today was such a day.

Stopped first at Scotney Pit which straddles the Sussex/Kent border. Highlights were a huge and gorgeous in the morning sun, flock of Golden Plover and five Barnacle Geese hanging out with the Greylags.

Dungeness had treats in store beginning with a Black Redstart showing fleetingly in the visitor centre carpark. The main pool by the centre was strangely bereft of birds so we headed for the Dengemarsh hide where all the action seemed to be today. A Great White Egret showed extremely well and later two Glossy Ibis flew in to feed among the gulls and ducks. We watched a juvenile one for ages having a bath and preening. (I don't take that long in the bath) It was one of those special birding moments when you can really watch a scarce bird at leisure. :t: At one point I had a GI and a Marsh Harrier in my scope at the same time........now that doesn't happen every day!! Great!

It was a good raptor day today including 5 Marsh Harriers, including two juvs which must be good news, 4 Sparrowhawks, at least 5 Kestrels and a hunting Peregrine, but the peregrine was on the way at Pett (in Sussex, so can I include it in the Kent Birding thread?).

The ARC hide was good too; 3 Snipe, a Water Rail, another Cettis (several elsewhere) and all the usual ducks including Pintail...........another fine day with 68 species.

Good county Kent!.........really should get there more often!

 

[gossypots]

I am visiting Hever in kent at the end of this week , could anyone let me know of where some of the best birdwatching places to visit are. Thanks

 

[pstraughan]

I am visiting Hever in kent at the end of this week , could anyone let me know of where some of the best birdwatching places to visit are. Thanks

Bough Beech Reservoir and Sevenoaks Wildfowl Trust Reserve are both not too far away from Hever.

Bough Beech has a visitor centre and you can also just park on the causeway. I've seen Red Kite and Buzzard there recently and someone saw an Osprey last week. You can't get very close to the birds though. Sevenoaks is better if you want to walk about. You could easily spend a couple of hours there. Not a great deal on the water at the moment but loads of Warblers and you might see a Kingfisher. They have had Bittern (which I saw) and Water Rail there in the past couple of months. Nice hides there and a visitor centre.

Welcome to Kent.

Pat

 

[gossypots]

Thanks alot Pat , will take a look there.