A day's birding in Kent started with a visit to Dungeness, arriving at the beach for a seawatch at first light. We were greeted with thousands of Cormorants on the sea. Gannets were present as were large numbers of Razorbills with much smaller numbers of Guillemots among them and Several Red-throated Divers were seen moving along the coast. At "The Patch" we found a 1st winter Little Gull among the numerous commoner gull species. Many of the Razorbills seen earlier flew in and landed on the sea a short distance from the gulls. On the walk back to the car we found a pair of Black Redstarts within the power station compound and a Raven was perched on the power station roof.
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| Sunrise at Dungeness |
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| The Patch |
A brief visit to the viewing screen overlooking Arc Pit failed to locate the Smew, but we added Bearded Tit to the day and year list totals.
After a brief stop at Scotney GP to tick the feral Barnacle Geese we went in search of Swans and managed to find a flock of 34 Bewick's and then a flock of mixed swans containing Mute, 2 Bewick's and 5 Whooper.
Before heading for home we took a detour hoping to connect with the Hume's Leaf Warbler at Bockhill Farm Woods. Parking at the monument we took the path down to the woods and heard the warbler calling almost instantly. Seeing the bird proved far more challenging, but eventually, after following little movements among the trees we enjoyed some excellent views.
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| Monument at Brockhill Farm Woods |
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| Bockhill Farm Wood |
Hi Jim, Would you able to share the coordinates (either os reference or google maps one) where the Hume's Warbler was seen? My son would like to see this warbler and we are planning on visiting this weekend. We are not familiar with Bockhill Farm and hence, the ask.
ReplyDeleteHi Suren, Sorry for the late reply. I have added a map to the blog post and the route I took to view the bird from. The google map ref is 51.159658, 1.391169. Hopefully there will be other birders on site who can help you locate it. Good Luck I hope your son see's it.
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