24 January: Dungeness area and Walland Marsh

We started our third and final day in Kent and East Sussex with another check of the waders on the beach, adding Grey Plover to our Kent list, which we had not seen the previous day. The sea was much calmer than yesterday, so we thought we’d have another go at a seawatch, hoping for better views. In fact there was virtually nothing on the sea apart from several Great-crested Grebes and a single distant Guillemot.

On checking Birdguides, we saw the drake Smew had reappeared at the RSPB Dungeness reserve, so we drove there next, and although not the best of views, it was a great bird to see. Not a tick as we had already seen three female ‘Red-heads’ at Abberton, bur there is something very special about the stunning white elegance of the male.

It was rather a cold day, so we sheltered in the warmth of the car and set off on a tour of Walland Marsh. This was disappointingly unproductive, with the striking feature being substantial numbers of Fieldfare hopping about on the ploughed fields, with beautiful muted tones of grey, purple and reddish-brown standing out against the dull earth.

Our final stop was at Scotney gravel pits on the way home, where there were 2 Long-tailed ducks diving and providing a nice final flourish for our few days break.