Dungeness

A fairly quick visit to Dungeness this morning. Started at the RSPB Reserve, where we saw a couple of female Goosander, female Smew (2), a single male and five female Goldeneye, Goldcrest (1) and at least six Tree Sparrow feeding on the well stocked feeders near the visitors centre.

The weather was warm and bright as we made our way to view the 'New Diggings' pit from the road causeway. Here we quickly connected with the already reported single Black-throated Diver and three Great White Egrets as well as a single Little Egret.

We then drove round the coast road and managed to locate the third-winter Glaucous Gull in among a few Great Black-backed Gulls. Walking up to the coastal shingle from the road, we had a look on the sea over a ten minute period and recorded: Gannet (1), Common Scoter (6), Red-throated Diver (6), Guillemot (8), Razorbill (3) and Kittiwake (3).

To complete our visit, we stopped in on the ARC pit where we found another Great White Egret and saw a further three female Smew and a single Marsh Harrier.

Smew

Great White Egret