Summer plumage Black Necked Grebe.
I met up again with Richard yesterday the 15th April and we headed to Dungeness , last time we were out it was glorious sunshine however today it was overcast & raining.
We headed straight down to the Dungeness sea front and checked the Old lighthouse garden and surrounding gorse bushes for any migrants without success apart from a single Goldcrest calling from deep inside the gorse bushes .
We then decided to have a look at the sea to see if there was any movement , a single Arctic Skua plus several Sandwich & Common Terns which were new birds for the year for me , 2 Common Scoter , 3 Red throated Divers and several Dark Bellied Brent Geese were pretty much it .
From here we had a look around the Long pits and added Common Whitethroat to the year list plus heard both Blackcap & Chiffchaff.
Black Necked Grebe.
We decided to have a look on the Rspb reserve from the hides as the rain just kept on coming down , really great views of a summer plumage Black necked Grebe was an obvious highlight , it was also calling which was great to hear, really stunning plumage on this bird .
Black necked Grebe calling.
I also saw several Sand & House Martins quite high up which were also new birds for my year list , there were at least two 2nd summer Med Gulls flying around Burrows pit which were very nice to see.
2nd summer Med Gull.
It was then decided to try and see the summer plumage Slavonian Grebes which were on new Diggings and mainly viewed from the road which is never easy or very safe along that stretch of the road , however we parked out of the way and luckily the Slavonian Grebes were fairly close in , the weather was awful , raining & overcast but i did manage some photos.
Summer plumage Slavonian Grebe.
Having a preen.
Both birds together.
Really enjoyable birding session despite the rain.
