Kent Birding Highlights for September 2025

                                                DUNGENESS  AREA

                                                  2nd September 2025

                                         SEAWATCH : 07.40 - 08.40

                                             

Arctic Skua (photo from 2018)

A trip to Dungeness on the 2nd for an early morning seawatch was successful with some mid distant views of 6 Balearic Sheawaters & 1 Arctic Skua, we also saw Common Scoter, Kittiwake & a Wheatear in front of the hide.

LADE SOUTH

A trip to Lade south pit produced 3 Black necked Grebes which were welcome year ticks. There was also plenty of both Great crested & Little Grebes plus on the way back to the car a Hummingbird Hawk-Moth flew in front of us and landed.

Hummingbird Hawk-Moth

ARC PIT

We called into the Hanson hide overlooking the Arc pit and saw 4 Ruff fly into the back of the Pit plus a female Red crested Pochard close in by the hide.

Red crested Pochard.

OARE MARSHES

9th September 2025

Gannet

A trip to Oare Marshes on the 9th was rewarded with a distant Common Guillemot on the Sheppey side of the Swale opposite the slipway.

We were joined by MW who picked out a Gannet flying around the mouth of Faversham Creek before flying along the Swale later on in the morning.

Gannet flying past the slipway.

On the way towards the seawatch hide we saw a distant Osprey which was constantly fishing in the Swale before landing on a post on the Isle of Sheppey to eat it's well caught fish !!!

Distant Osprey.

There were 2 Curlew Sandpipers (juvs) along Faversham Creek plus a very showy Lesser Whitethroat near the hide.

Lesser Whitethroat

There was also a really smart 'lemony' Willow Warbler in the bushes along the footpath by the creek.

Willow Warbler.

OARE MARSHES

16th September 2025

8 of the  9 Glossy Ibis.

Another trip to Oare Marshes on the 16th was a record breaking day with 9 Glossy Ibis seen flying over the West Flood before disappearing out of sight below the sea wall.

All 9 Glossy Ibis.

I have only ever seen a maximum of 2 Glossy Ibis before at Oare Marshes and MW  reliably informed me that 9 is a record count for OM , well done AE for picking them out.

There was also a summer plumaged Red Throated Diver at the mouth of the Creek , sadly bit to far out for a photo.

Plus the Osprey was once again seen distantly over the Swale, 8 Cattle Egrets in with the Cattle & and a juv Curlew Sandpiper in the Creek.

OARE MARSHES

30th September 2025

5 of the 10 Cattle Egrets.

Having returned from Shetland (Blog Post to come) on Sunday evening i was pleased to be back at Oare Marshes for the last day of September.

Starting off with my personal record count of 10 Cattle Egrets at Oare Marshes (reserve record is 22 i believe).

A walk towards Dans Dock was livened up with spectacular views of a very close Osprey !!!

Osprey

There were lot's of birds around, huge numbers of Meadow Pipits which were on almost every bush and constantly flying overhead.

We had a Long tailed Tit flock go through the bushes which also  held 3 Blackcaps & 3 Chiffchaffs.

Long tailed Tit.

We saw a high flock of 10 Bearded Tits flying beyond Uplees in a steady purposeful flight.

7 of the 10 Bearded Tits.

On the way back we saw 2 Clouded Yellows plus several Wall Browns.

Clouded Yellow.

 

 

Kent Birding Highlights for August 2025

                                                 OARE MARSHES

                                       2nd August 2025

                                                

Wood Sandpiper

A visit to Oare Marshes on the 2nd August produced a good selection of waders including a Wood Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper & a smart looking juv Spotted Redshank.

Curlew Sandpiper.

The Bonaparte's Gull was still present roosting on the East Flood.

CANTERBURY 

10th August 2025

One of two Kit's

An evening trip to the River Stour looking for Beaver's with views of 2 Kit's.

Kit.

I was reliably informed these were this years young.

OARE MARSHES

11th August 2025

5 of the 6  Black Terns

A brief afternoon visit for high tide on the 11th was rewarded with a good number of Common Terns roosting on a very dry East flood, there was also 3 Sandwich Terns.

I was just about to head home when i noticed some more smaller Terns fly in and briefly land before being flushed almost straight away by a Hobby.

I quickly worked out they were in fact 6 Black Terns which were a very welcome year tick.

Mixed flock of  Common & Black Terns.

OARE MARSHES

12th August 2025

Bonaparte's Gull

Another visit to Oare Marshes on the 12th was rewarded with some excellent views of the Bonaparte's Gull on the mud near the slipway.

Bonaparte's Gull.

SEASALTER

18 White Storks

We also saw 18 White Storks on route to Oare Marshes , these were part of a larger flock of 80+ birds seen the evening before and come from the Knepp estate reintroduction scheme .

White Storks getting restless

DUNGENESS  AREA

18th August 2025

Galloways 

Zitting Cisticola

A very successful trip to Dungeness on the 18th August to see the Zitting Cisticola which was found by BW along Galloways.

Heard it's distinctive 'zitting' flight note and saw it in flight on several occasions, it briefly perched in the nearby reeds but was mostly obscured , then  abit later on it showed a bit better right out in the open.

Zitting Cisticola

A bit later on it landed on a post although alot further away.

Distant view of Zitting Cisticola

A very showy Whinchat along the fence line was also great to see.

Whinchat

Rspb  &  ARC

A look from Dennis hide on the RSPB reserve produced very little other then a splendid adult Yellow Legged Gull.

Over on the ARC from Hanson hide there was a good selection of waders including ; Little Stint 1 ad, Ruff (6), Little ringed Plover (3) & a Spotted Redshank (juv).

THE MOAT

Pied Flycatcher

A walk around the Moat near Dungeness bird Obs is always worth a look as you never know what might turn up.

This was proven on this occasion as some really great views of a Pied Flycatcher landing on one of the closed mist nets was a very welcome year tick.

Pied Flycatcher

After enjoying the Pied Flycatcher for quite sometime i went back to my car to get some refreshments when i happened to noticed RG & JS rushing off over the Moat , this peaked my interest and headed off to investigate, on my way round RG called me over to say they have found a very interesting Warbler !!!!!

On my first views it looked quite large, long primary projection and long tailed, it had pale almost white looking wing panels and an overall grey in appearance.

Initial thoughts were Icterine Warbler , i have seen plenty of 'Icky's' over the years but never looking so grey in appearance & with such bold whitish wing panels.

By the time the word had got out and some of the local birders started to appear we had pretty much agreed on it being an Icterine Warbler.

The Icterine Warbler moved around the Moat as more birders started to appear and eventually we saw it in some very good light and the grey appearance was clearly a trick of the light as it begun to show some yellowish tones around the throat & the white wing panels faded into the more pale colour you would expect.

A  real bonus bird to see and a great find by RG.

Icterine Warbler

ST.MARGARET'S at CLIFFE

30th August 2025

An early morning visit to St.Margaret's at Cliffe for the recently found Dotterels was successful, unfortunately the bird were quite distant but good scope views of an Adult & 2 Juvs were obtained.

Whilst watching these birds they were flushed by a Hobby but reappeared later on in the day.

SANDWICH BAY

New South Downs Pool

Spotted Crake

I meet up with CG & KE at St.Margaret's and followed them to Sandwich Bay and then jumped into Chris Gillards car and got a lift to the private parking area near New south downs pool, thanks for the lift Chris.

We walked around to the Pool and had some superb scope views of the Spotted Crake , first one i have seen for a number of years.

Digi scope pic of  Spotted Crake

There was several Water Rails calling & one showed well near the Spotted Crake.

Spotted Crake

Kent Birding Highlights for July 2025

Bonaparte's Gull .

This month's report is more of an Oare Marshes highlights of the month as i only ventured away from there a couple of times during July.

All dates refer to Oare Marshes , any other sites will be mentioned separately.

1st JULY  

Looking from the pull-in towards the West Flood a Bittern was showing every so often by sticking its head & neck up above the reeds.

Spot the Bittern.

There was also up to 3 Cattle Egrets in superb summer plumage.

Cattle Egret.

2nd JULY

Bonaparte's Gull

News on the 2nd  filled me with joy as the  Bonaparte's Gull had once again returned for it's 13th year !!!

Such an iconic bird for Oare Marshes , thankfully it looks in pristine condition in it's full summer attire. (it's now in heavy moult).

Bonaparte's Gull.

3rd JULY

Caspian Tern with Black headed Gulls.

Oare marshes once again produced the goods on the 3rd with only it's 2nd ever record of Caspian Tern which was seen along Faversham Creek.

Needless to say i headed straight there (thanks for the lift MW).

Here are a selection of photos i took of the Caspian Tern :

Huge bill

Size comparison with Black headed Gulls

Caspian Tern.

8th JULY

Little Ringed Plover.

On the 8th we started off with a look over the East Flood, Black.T.Godwit, Redshank & Avocet were in good numbers , i also saw 2 Green Sandpipers.

A close in near the road Little ringed Plover was an added bonus.

From here we headed down to the Slipway and AE picked out a distant  male Common Scoter which was a very good find in July at Oare Marshes, it drifted off west towards Uplees and eventually out of sight.

15th JULY

Kent Woodland

On the 15th July i ventured out into one of Kent's many Woodland areas and was treated to some very close birds coming down to a puddle to drink, this puddle has now dried up and no longer visited by these birds sadly.

Here are a small selection of photos i took :

♀ Bullfinch

♂ Bullfinch

Dunnock

♀ Common Crossbill

♂ Common Crossbill

30th & 31st JULY

Back at Oare Marshes on the 30th & 31st was rewarded with a superb find by Alan Fossey : White-Rumped Sandpiper.

Just about see the white rump.

Nicely marked bird.

White-Rumped Sandpiper.