Male Common Redstart.
On Saturday 24th August i made a trip to Dungeness and more or less rained all day , i called into an area by the Lydd rifle ranges in the hope of seeing some migrants and was informed there were Pied Flycatcher and Whinchat in the area however as hard as i tried i could not locate either , i did see a really smart male Common Redstart which was really great to see , i also added several Stonechat and 2 Wheatear here.
Hobby on entrance track to reserve
I decided to head to the rspb reserve and as i was driving along the entrance track just before the car park i saw a Crow chasing a small falcon which then landed on some posts and turned out to be a Hobby , i then proceeded to inform the reserve staff who didn't seem to understand a word i was saying , this is not the first time i have had this problem here , 2 years ago i found a Barred Warbler here and i informed the same member of staff who didn't believe a word i said and just for the record the Barred Warbler was seen for the rest of that afternoon and several days after by numerous birders . rant over ..lol
Fox by the bird feeders at the rspb reserve.
I also saw a Sparrowhawk whilst looking at the Hobby , after i left the visitor centre i saw this lovely Fox by the feeders , i then proceeded to head to the first hide , sorry i can never remember the names of the hides , anyhow i had great luck in here as i saw 2 Little Gulls close in by the hide .
Little Gull.
Doing a bit of wing stretching.
I also added 2 Egyptain Geese from here plus 2 Common Sandpipers , all the regular wildfowl were present and 2 Little Egrets and a single Grey Heron flew past the hide . I then decided i would head down to the sea and although it was fairly quite i did add a dark phase Arctic Skua , several Gannets a single Fulmar and approx: 40 Common Scoter to my day list .
1 of 2 Pied Flycatchers.
This second bird was in the gorse bushes.
I had a walk around the area by the Old Lighthouse and saw 2 Pied Flycatchers which showed very well at times , there were also several Willow Warblers in the area , i had a really pleasant days birding here despite getting soaked and headed off with a couple of years ticks and some great birds in the memory.
