Sardinian Warbler: South Foreland, Kent

Kent is proving to be a hotspot at the moment and we headed back there this morning hoping to see our first Sardinian Warbler. 

It's a new site for us and this caused a few problems in finding the exact area. Luckily the finder Jamie P was in the cafe when Brian went in to ask for directions. It was a short but steep climb up the path to reach the area the warbler had been favouring. An hour passed with no sight or sound of the target bird, Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Robin, Blackbird, and Goldfinch were all seen or heard within the immediate area and we enjoyed close views of Peregrine, Buzzard, and Hobby overhead.

Then the Sardinian Warbler called from close by, a fast rattling "ctret-tret-tret-tret" deep within the bushes. Then a quieter shorter sub-song was heard briefly before I caught a glimpse of the bird as it flew between bushes. 

Another birder thought he had the bird further down the valley, only for it to be identified as a Lesser Whitethroat when it appeared among the tree branches. We returned to stake out the original scrub and heard the bird calling several times but still no sightings. Then it began calling from the opposite side of the path remaining hidden deep within the bushes. Suddenly a Whitethroat flew into the same area and the Sardinians flew out low across the path back into the scrub. 

We spent six hours on-site, hearing the bird numerous times but frustratingly only ever getting fleeting glimpses of it in flight or edging its way through thick cover.

Not a bad place to spend a morning

Scrub areas favoured by the Sardinian Warbler

Eleonora's Falcon: Worth Marsh, Kent

A photograph of a Hobby over Restharrow scrape at Sandwich Bay in Kent was re-identified as an Eleonora's falcon! It was seen around midday and soon moved twenty miles inland to Stodmarsh where it was only seen for a further hour before disappearing and not seen again. A few lucky locals managed to see it, but for the majority who made the trip, it ended in disappointment.

These birds if seen do not normally hang about, and you normally have to be there on-site to have any chance of connecting. So imagine our surprise when the bird was reported this morning at 9.57 at Worth Marsh.!

The reports continued throughout the morning of its presence at Worth Marsh, leading to even more frustration as dad had a prior commitment. Eventually, we met up and set off on the ninety-mile trip. We left at around 2.30pm, definitely not the ideal time on a Friday and it being school half-term. After encountering heaving traffic at several points along the route we arrived around 5pm. Volunteers were waiting to direct birders along a rough track to a field being used as a temporary car park. We passed several birders who were returning,  all giving us positive news. We reached the line of birders and within seconds we had the scope trained on the bird. Plenty of birders arrived throughout the early evening and several were pleased to grab a view through my scope.

We watched it for over an hour where it remained perched in the tree, eventually, it made several short flights, catching dragonflies and returning to the same tree each time.

A Red-footed Falcon had also been reported close by, so we headed off to Worth and quickly found the bird perched on nearby telegraph wires along Goretop lane. As we were watching the Red-footed Falcon, we heard that Eleonora's Falcon was showing well sat on a post in the middle of a field. We found a spot to park the car and enjoyed superb scope views of the bird along with two Hobby. 

 

Thanks to all the volunteers and staff who gave up their time to give directions and parking instructions it was greatly appreciated.