10th March 2013 - Dungeness ~ Thérèse Goes Birding

I think I might love Dungeness a little too much, I need to try some other reserves. It's like my local restaurant, I consider other options and even plan to go to them, but somehow always end up there. There were plenty of Great Crested Grebe out to sea, around 20. There weren't as many House Sparrow as normally hang around on the bushes by the power station, but a few Gannet and Guillemot added to the list. Around 150 Brent Goose fly past and a Stonechat and Kestrel were reason to stop the car as we headed from the beach to the reserve.

Thankfully this time on the reserve one of the Great White Egret was obviously hanging around instead of us just missing him each time he moved. A Red-crested Pochard on the small pool to the right as you enter the reserve through the visitor centre was a great delight and surprise. The list was looking rather pedestrian as we drove over to the ARC pit until we stopped to check what the white bird a small group were looking at the by entrance to the driveway. Lo and behold - a Spoonbill! We watched it for a while until it wandered into a ditch and could no longer be seen, then proceeded to see an excellent flying Bittern close to the hide on the ARC pit. On the route back to the car, we again saw the Spoonbill, flying overhead. All in all, an excellent day.

Photos are a bit lacking in quantity and quality from this trip, sorry!

Trip list: 49
Year list: 123
Lifers of year list: 9