There has been very little to write about
of late as the Patch is proving to be somewhat birdless coupled with the fact I
have been a tad busy with work and also the GT6. A Semipalmated Sandpiper had
been found at Dungeness on Tuesday 10th but I could not get down and
was stuck until the weekend so hoped it would stay, it was seen again on the 11th
but not on the Thursday but a report of it being seen again on Friday13th!!!! Got
my hopes up. I know some people called in sick from work and made the journey
down (with Tweets of “it’s now on my Kent list”) but I still had to wait
another day. Saturday the 14th saw me, as usual, at Grove Ferry at
first light ready to hear of news of the Semi-P. Grove proved as uneventful as
expected and when the first Tweet of Semi-P broke I bid farewell to Chiddy and
headed for the ARC pit at Dunge. On arrival however it appeared that the mega
Kent rarity awaiting me was none other than archetype, a counterfeit, this bird
was in fact an adult Little Stint in winter plumage (rare in itself in that
plumage in Kent) but still just a Little Stint and, as it turned out, was the
very same Little Stint the slackers and skivers got to see the day before,
funny thing is it didn’t even look like the photos of the Semi-P already posted
on the KOS gallery. The rest of the morning was spent looking at the see by the
power station after seeing 6 Little Stints (1 adult), 3 Ruff, 1
Greenshank, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Marsh Harrier and 6 plus Garganey on the ARC. The
sea produced 1 Little Gull (2 were present), 3 Arctic Skuas, 8 Black Terns and
a very nice in close juvenile Pomarine Skua the passed through the patch at
11.35am. Next day, Sunday 15th I had arranged to meet Chiddy at the
fishing boats again at Dunge to do a sea watch as the weather forecast was for
a good onshore blow. A call to Sue Morton that evening and all three of us meet
at the boats at 7.00am although the weather man got it completely wrong as
there was bright sunshine and not a breathe of wind however, we did manage to
see a nice summer plumaged Red-throated Diver, 2 or 3 Arctic Skuas, 20+ Common
Scoters and Several Gannets, Common and Sandwich Terns. A call from Andy Lawson
led us to a smart Ortolan Bunting not far away at Denge Marsh Gully a new bird
for Chiddy and a Kent tick for Sue. Back at the Patch by the power station we
attempted another sea watch this time picking up 2 Balearic Shearwaters giving
Sue another Kent tick. Also seen were 8+ Black Terns, 1 Little Gull, 2 Yellow
Wagtails and 7+ Wheatears. Grove on the 22nd was uneventful yet
again with only birds of note being 1 Green Sandpiper, 11 Pintail and 1
Kingfisher. The 28th was no better with just the eclipse drake
Mandarin of note, but on the 29th a Barn Owl flew up an over the
Ramp at 6.15 while Alan and I watched, we had arranged to meet here along with
Steve Ashton to take a little journey to North Kent and visit the Lesser
Yellowlegs at Cliffe Pools. We were watching the bird seconds after leaving the
car as it roosted with several Redshanks. A new bird for both Alan and Steve we
had great views close in but photographable for about 20mins before a Peregrine
decided to chase every wader present for the next 10 minutes. I watched the Redshank
flock as it dropped and appeared to stay on the Ski Pool and along with Rob
Stokes drove around the RSPB car park and took a walk along the path beside Ski
pool where I located the Redshanks but there was no sign of the ‘Legs’, Alan,
Steve and I had a quick look on Flamingo pool without success and returned to
Rob who had now refound the Lesser Yellowlegs in with the Redshanks. Next stop
was a quick dash down to Reculver to see a Rd-breasted Flycatcher, another new
bird for Alan, then on to Kings Wood where a Two-barred Crossbill had been
found, sadly though, no joy here. This weekend 5th & 6th
October was another damp squib at Grove with the Mandarin starting to gain some
colour and a Grass Snake sunning itself on Saturday. A trip to Thanet was next
to a field not 2 minutes from where I used to live (my parents still do) to see
a Great-grey Shrike at Newlands Farm, the eighth lifer of the year for Alan
(his target was 5???) and a good end to Saturday. This morning, Sunday, again
was quiet except for a brief Great-white Egret that flew across the Reedbed at
6.40am and dropped into the unseen back pools not to be seen again, 2 Whinchats
were in fields behind Harrison’s both days and an early exit saw me visiting
Restharrow Scrape at Sandwich on the way home to see glimpses of a very well
hidden Jack Snipe.
A few naff piccies from the last few days.
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| Bearded Tit |
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| Bearded Tit |
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| Great-grey Shrike |
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| Great-grey Shrike |
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| Great-grey Shrike |
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| Great-grey Shrike |
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| Jack Snipe (poor shot) |
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| Jay |
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| Jay |
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| Lapwing |
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| Lapwing |
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| Lapwing |
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| Lapwing |
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| Lapwing reflections |
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| Lapwing reflections |
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| Mandarin |
