Dungeness Seawatch & RSPB

                                                 DUNGENESS  SEAWATCH

                                           30th August 2026

                                      From hide : 06.45 - 08.45

                                        Wind : W  /  WSW

EUROPEAN STORM PETREL  1  WEST

(Dungeness tick)

BALEARIC SHEARWATER   9 West

FULMAR   2 west

ARCTIC SKUA  4 DP & 3 LP

GANNET  200+  west & east

KITTIWAKE  10

MED GULL  2 west

BLACK TERN  4  west

SANDWICH TERN  200+  west & east

ARCTIC TERN  1 west

COMMON TERN  200+

COMMON SCOTER  1 west

DUNLIN  1 west

SWALLOW  100+  out to sea

SAND MARTIN  50+  out to sea

 

European Storm Petrel  photo taken from Deal Pier in 2017.

                                          FISHING  BOATS

                                             13.30 - 16.00

BALEARIC SHEARWATER  7 west

ARCTIC SKUA  5 DP & 3 LP  west & east

BLACK TERN  3  west

LITTLE TERN  6  west

SANDWICH TERN  1000+  mainly west

COMMON TERN  200+ mainly west

KITTIWAKE  5Ad & 1 Juv  west

GANNET  200+  west & east

RAZORBILL  2  west

SAND MARTIN  200+ out to sea

SWALLOW  200+  out to sea

                                                                 RSPB

White-winged Black Tern

A visit to the Rspb reserve was a good decision with good views of the long staying juvenile  White-winged Black Tern in front of the Firth lookout.

There was also 4 Black Terns present giving a nice comparison.

Black Tern

There was a good selection of waders including a really smart Little Stint.

Little Stint

Looking from the picnic tables near the Dennis hide i could see a distant Spotted Redshank alongside a Great white Egret.

Great white Egret & Spotted Redshank

White-winged Black Tern.......At Stodmarsh

                                      COLLARDS  LAKE

                                           &

                                 STODMARSH

                    15th , 16th & 17th  August  2026

                                             

White-winged Black Tern

I first saw this superb bird on late Saturday (15th) afternoon on Collards Lake , relocated by MW, many thanks Martyn .W. for info much appreciated.

It was very distant but through the scope the views were good, we also saw a juv Cuckoo & 4 Great white Egrets there.

Much closer.

The White-winged Black Tern has been seen on Collards Lake & the main lake at Stodmarsh and on Sunday (16th) morning it was showing very well at Stodmarsh.

Here are a selection of photos i took :

Nice view of the under-wing

Hovering

Calling but unheard by me

Chasing insects

White-winged Black Tern.

I had another look on Monday (17th) and this time the WWBT was once again on Collards Lake , i also saw the Cuckoo again !!!

Kent Birding Highlights for July 2026

                                             6th

                                                  OARE  MARSHES

                                                                         

Bonaparte's Gull.

News that the Bonaparte's Gull had returned to Oare marshes on the 3rd July (Found by Martyn Wilson this year, well done Martyn) and remarkably has now returned for it's 14th year in a row.

I headed over there on the 6th July with AE and had superb views of this stunning bird, it was in full summer attire and looked in great condition.

There was a report of 2 Grasshopper Warblers on the reserve which would be a welcome year tick, however on listening to one of the birds near the seawatch hide AE who has a remarkable ability on bird songs & calls said in his opinion that was a Savi's Warbler !!!

Unfortunately for me i have developed tinnitus which effects my hearing which in windy conditions makes it even harder to distinguish certain songs & calls (that's my excuse anyway...), however i trust AE knowledge on these matters 100%.

I contacted Murray.W. and he said he would check it out in the morning and he messaged me to say , ' Yep that's a Savi's ' , well done Andrew .

We also had some great views of Turtle Dove & Bearded Tits.

Bearded Tit

Turtle Dove.  Photo from 2024

11th

OARE  MARSHES

Bonaparte's Gull

Another visit to Oare Marshes on the 11th produced more great views of the Bonaparte's Gull & the Savi's Warbler was still 'Reeling away', i could hear it better this time thankfully.

GODMERSHAM

It was fairly quiet at Oare Marshes so we decided to check out Godmersham, a walk up & down the road didn't produce the hoped for Spotted Flycatcher and a look over the river , which was quite low not surprisingly didn't produce any Banded Demoiselle.

So we headed to the cemetery and heard a Firecrest which showed briefly, then AE picked out 2 Spotted Flycatchers !!

Spotted Flycatcher

13th

STODMARSH

Garganey ♀ 

A brief visit to Stodmarsh and the Reedbed hide in particular was rewarded with a reasonable view of the ♀ Garganey that had been lingering in the area for sometime.
  

14th

OARE MARSHES

American Golden Plover

MW messaged me to say Geoff.B. has just found a full summer plumaged 

American Golden Plover on the East Flood.

Quick arrangments were made and i picked up MW and headed straight there, there was already a small group of birders on site on our arrival, we didn't waste time and soon had this superb wader in our scopes.

Great find GB, i believe this is only the 3rd record for the site ??!!

Here are some photos i took :

American Golden Plover & Bonaparte's Gull

Bold markings

American Golden Plover.

29th  &  30th

OARE  MARSHES

Our third American visitor of the year was this time found by Murray .W.  on the 29th July.

MW had  a tantalising view of a small wader on the 28th which he only saw briefly and couldn't quite confirm his thoughts on what it could be, however on the morning of the 29th said wader had reappeared giving MW much better , longer views and he could confirm that indeed he had found Oare Marshes 7th ever record of a 

White Rumped Sandpiper !!!

I grabbed all my birding gear and headed straight over there, unfortunately by the time i reached MW the WRS had frustratingly walked out of sight, after a tense 15 minutes or so the WRS walked back into view.

Great find Murray and thanks for the heads up !!!

The White rumped Sandpiper stayed loyal to the reedy area in the middle of the flood and was very tricky to see most of the time, however on the 30th it showed much better out in the open most of the time but still remained distant.

Here are a small selection of photos ;

White Rumped Sandpiper.

The Bonaparte's Gull is beginning to moult around the base of it's bill plus there were 16 Cattle Egret's including plenty of young birds.

Good numbers of Butterflies were around including both  Clouded Yellow &  Painted Lady.

Moulting Bonaparte's Gull

Adult Cattle Egret

Juv Cattle Egret

Clouded Yellow

Painted Lady

 

Long-tailed Shrike.........Long awaited Lifer

                                            EASTLEACH DOWNS

                                     in Gloucestershire

                                        21st July 2026

Long-tailed Shrike.

Long-tailed Shrike has been on my most wanted list for quite a few years , i had a birding holiday to Kazakhstan in 2017 and had many target species i wanted to see including a top 5 targets , Long-tailed Shrike being one of those Top 5 !!!!

Well unfortunately i was approx a week to late for them at the only site we had as they had already bred successfully and moved on.

Fast forward to 5th July 2026 and low and behold only  Britain's 2nd ever  Long-tailed Shrike had been found in Fife.

The only previous British record of Long-tailed Shrike was in the Outer Hebrides in November 2000.

Long-tailed Shrike.

Only problem i had with the Fife bird was getting there, it was roughly 10 hours drive from my home to where the LTS was being seen, eventually i managed to get a lift but the day before we were due to go the LTS had moved on , beginning to feel a bit cursed with this particular species now , i guess at least it did the decent thing and disappeared the day before we were due to go ,saving on a long wasted journey & expense.

Preening it's long tail.

The story doesn't end there, news of remarkably another Long-tailed Shrike on the Gloucestershire / Oxon border on the 8th July (overlapping the dates of the  Fife LTS).

This sighting was kept quiet until the 18th July due to understandably logistic reasons.

Great field work by dedicated local birders re-found the Gloucestershire / Oxon bird on the 19th July.

Game was back on, will i eventually connect with this stunning bird after all. well yes i did , i joined AE, RR & PG on a very successful trip on the 21st July and had some wonderful views of this cracking bird.

We watched it for well over 2 hours , it was constantly feeding on Bees & Grasshoppers.

It did some preening and i would think it will stick around for  a little while longer.

Great organisation by local birders & farmer with parking and onsite instructions, many thanks to them.

Here are some pics of the stunning

Long-tailed Shrike

Long-tailed Shrike

                                                

Hudsonian Godwit in Suffolk

                                               CATTAWADE in SUFFOLK

                                                                  17th July 2026

                                                

Hudsonian Godwit.

A trip to Cattawade in Suffolk on the 17th July proved very successful, we parked up at Cattawade picnic site and walked a short distance to view the splendid Hudsonian Godwit.

When we joined the assembled birders we were told the Hudsonian Godwit was present but had just walked out of sight behind a large grassy mound.

Thankfully after only a few minutes the Hudsonian Godwit reappeared and although distant at least we could see it, this bird was a welcome year tick for me & a lifer for AE, the heat haze made viewing difficult but thankfully the Hudsonian Godwit made a slow but steady pace walking down the side of the estuary  feeding as it went & getting closer by the minute.

Eventually it came quite close but heat haze was a problem as far as photos go but seeing this cracking bird was well worth the journey.

We saw it wing stretch on a couple of occasions and the black underwings were clearly seen.

Here are a selection of photos :

Hudsonian Godwit.

ABBERTON RESERVOIR 

Ruddy Shelduck

We called into Abberton Reservoir on the way home and had some superb views of nesting Cattle Egrets, plus it was great to see several Little & Great white Egrets, there was good numbers of Grey Heron & at least 5 Spoonbills.

Nesting Cattle Egrets 

There were very large numbers of Egyptian Geese & although not tickable there was  a stunning ♀ Ruddy Shelduck.

Ruddy Shelduck & Egyptian Geese