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 were 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.

 

 

Kent Double

                                                           NEW HYTHE LAKES

                                         24th , 26th & 31st December 2024

                                                          

American Yellow Warbler.

I just pulled into the KFC in Whitstable at lunch time on Christmas eve having promised my brother lunch when i got a message from AE saying there is a F'@"£4%ing  AMERICAN YELLOW WARBLER at New Hythe !!!!!!

Thanks for letting me know so quickly AE.

Having quickly checked all information i quickly went home grabbed all my birding gear and headed straight to New Hythe , my poor brother was promised lunch and all he got was standing near a sewage works with lots of crazy birders !!!!

Needless to say it didn't take long to see this glorious looking American warbler , bright yellow with faint reddish streaks on the breast, it was constantly calling and was quite aggressive towards any Chiffchaff that dared enter the Alder trees it had made it's current new home.

It was surprisingly hard to photograph as it was mainly keeping high in the trees but i did manage some photos, here are a selection :

Bright Yellow underparts & tail.

Yellow head & underwing

Faint reddish breast streaks

Always a branch in the way.

Constantly calling.

American Yellow Warbler

Congratulations to local patch birder Glenn Honey on his tremendous well deserved find plus putting the news out so quickly.

Needless to say this is a 1st record for Kent plus a very, very welcome new species for me.

PARK AVENUE BROADSTAIRS

27th December 2024

Eurasian Scops Owl photo from Durham in 2017.

Still recovering from the excitement of the American Yellow Warbler news reached the birding community of a Eurasian Scops Owl being seen at Broadstairs cricket ground on & off for approx. 5 days !!!

So on the evening of the 27th December 2024 i joined a rather hushed crowd of birders in the hope the Scops Owl would put in an appearance.

Thankfully at 16.58 the Eurasian Scops Owl was seen in some trees near the club house, it then flew into a large Oak tree and i was able to see it through my scope.

I never managed any photos however i did enjoy watching it. 

The above photo was of a day roosting bird  digi scoped in Rythope Durham in 2017, and the one below is of another day roosting bird in Kazakhstan also in 2017.

Eurasian Scops Owl. Photo taken in Kazakhstan 2017.

The Eurasian Scops Owl is only the 3rd record for Kent.

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

                                                                        
                  Just like to wish everyone who has visited my Blog this year 

A

HAPPY CHRISTMAS 

&

GREAT BIRDING

FOR

2025

Local Celeb..........Hoopoe

                                            Whitstable

                           16th December 2024

Hoopoe.

I went to see a Hoopoe which  has become a bit of a local Celebrity on Monday the 16th December , i had already missed it on the Saturday as i had a quick look late in the day on my way back home  from Dungeness.

Thanks to a call from Chiddy on the Monday morning informing me that the Hoopoe was showing well on & off.

I soon arrived on site but the Hoopoe had disappeared into one of the gardens, however it didn't take long for Chiddy to locate it resting on a nearby garden fence post.

Thankfully it showed very well for the approximately 20 mins i was there, here are  some photos i took :

Having a preen

On someone's drive

As you can see from the above photos the Hoopoe was quite active walking around grass verges & driveways plus spent a bit of time on a roof preening.

If you decide to pay a visit i would advise you to respect residents privacy at all times, i did speak to one resident who was very keen to see the Hoopoe herself & thankfully the Hoopoe performed for us & her.

Hoopoe

 

                                          

November Highlights...........There were Some !!

                                                Swalecliffe

                               5th November 2024

                                        

Snow Bunting

On the 5th November i had a wander around Swalecliffe in the hope of seeing the Snow Bunting , after a chat with local birder AT i searched the area it favoured, after a short while i located this stunning bird which gave wonderful close views.

I also had decent but brief views of the wintering Dartford Warbler in more or less the same area.

Snow Bunting.

St.Maragarets at Cliffe

7th November 2024.

Rose-coloured Starling.

On the 7th November i headed to St.Margarets at Cliffe to try and connect with the juv Rose-coloured Starling.

After nearly an hour it was seen on top of a roof on an aerial and i finally managed to see it, very pale plumage, pink legs all seen well.

Rose-coloured Starling with a Starling 

Rose-coloured Starling with a House Sparrow.

King George VI Park Ramsgate

9th November 2024

On the 9th November i had good views of a Pallas's Warbler in King George VI park, sadly i never managed a photo but the views through my bins were very good with all features seen.

Pallas's Warbler Photo from Swalecliffe in 2023.

Worth Marshes

Pink-Footed Goose.

Also on the 9th November i headed to Worth Marshes and finally caught up with some Pink Footed Geese in Kent, 17 of them in fact.

Pink-Footed Goose.

A Trip to Bempton Cliffs & Flamborough

                                   BEMPTON CLIFFS  &  FLAMBOROUGH AREA

                                                         2nd October 2024

                                                                    

Pale-Legged Leaf Warbler.

News broke of a confirmed Pale-Legged Leaf Warbler on the 27th September at Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire whilst i was was still on Shetland !!

We left Shetland on the overnight ferry to Aberdeen on the 28th but worked out we wouldn't have time regrettably to twitch the PLLW on the way home on the Sunday. 

The PLLW was still present Monday & Tuesday and the weather overnight was cloudy & rain both nights with the weather clearing on the Wednesday.

Thankfully i was offered a lift on the Tuesday and joined Steve .C. , JR & RR leaving early hours Wednesday morning.

There was no news on the PLLW until approx 8am and you could feel the sense of relief in the car , we duly arrived on site fearing how difficult it was going to be having heard stories of it being very elusive & some birders waiting 5 + hours to see it, you get the picture...Lol

Pale pinkish coloured legs.

Well we all connected with this incredible bird , (only the 2nd ever record for the UK and the first live record at that to) within 15 minutes of us arriving on site.

It was very active and with patience i managed to see the PLLW really well and even heard it call several times.

Photography was another challenge altogether but i manged a few record shots.

Long supercillium.

Pale-Legged Leaf Warbler.

Having seen & heard  this great bird very well the pressure was off and i could really enjoy watching it forage through the hedgerow, A really great find  by local birder Andrew Hood plus another very well organised twitch by Bempton Cliffs staff.

FLAMBOROUGH HEAD : Holms Gut

Red Breasted Flycatcher.

From Bempton Cliffs we headed to Flamborough Head and had superb views of 2 Red Breasted Flycatchers  at Holm's Gut.

Nice view of it's tail pattern

Red Breasted Flycatcher.

THORNWICK  BAY

Olive Backed Pipit.

Whilst we were checking out another area for migrants news broke of an Olive Backed Pipit showing well at Thornwick Bay which was only about 10 minutes away, so without haste we headed there and was soon enjoying some point blank views of this cracking looking bird.

Here are a small selection of photos i took.

Olive Backed Pipit.

We watched this bird for quite some time enjoying watch it forage among all the dead leaves often almost looking invisible at times.

OLD FALL PLANTATION

Yellow-Browed Warbler.

We had a walk to the Old Fall Plantation where SC & JR found 2 Yellow Browed Warblers & a Common Redstart.

There were lot's of Goldcrests pretty much at every site we went to & there must of been at least 20 here.

Merlin, Pied Flycatcher & Ring Ouzel were also seen by our Group.

Yellow-Browed Warbler

FLAMBOROUGH : Seawatch

We spent the last hour looking out at sea and added a close in Manx Shearwater to our days totals plus several Gannets, Kittiwakes & 2 Red throated Divers.

A really great days birding in great company and a special thank you to Steve.C. for the lift and doing all the driving.