Thursday 18th January 2024: Dungeness

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 Our birdwatching day began over breakfast at our B&B, with wave after wave of Cormorants heading out to sea in straggly lines. Astonishingly, we hadn’t logged any of these yesterday! 

At the RSPB reserve we started at the ARC hide. Water levels were very high, with a volunteer informing us they were half a metre higher than ever before. There were reasonable numbers of the regular ducks, but little else on the water, and no islands exposed to accommodate roosting waders. Scanning the bushes in hopes of a Bittern warming itself in the early morning sun, Tim brilliantly managed to spot a pair of Bearded Tits and we watched these for some time through the scopes, feasting on seed heads and swinging pendulously on the reeds, the male’s  burnished back, grey head and bold, black teardrop moustache looking magnificent in the golden early morning sun. Sadly they were too far away for photos, but here’s one Tim made earlier!!

Bearded Reedling

A Little Grebe and Great Crested Grebe were new for the trip, and back at the car park a Goldcrest was a  nice bonus. Next we headed to Burrowes Pit, and from Dennis hide quickly located some Goldeneye, a couple of males and a female. Our target bird here was Black-throated Diver, a bird we failed to see at all last year. These are always tricky, with their habit of spending so much time underwater! A Great Northern Diver was present as well as the Black-throated, making their diving exploits all the more frustrating, as we attempted to focus and zoom in to see the details to confirm an ID. Eventually we managed good views of both birds, but again too far away for photographs. 

There was little else of note around the reserve, apart from a Great Egret, surreptitiously walking through the reeds. However,  we managed to add a few regular passerines to our visit list, before departing for home.


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