Dungeness: Grey Seal photobombing a Gannet at the fishing boats this afternoon. #UKBirding #Kentbirding

Bluetail last weekend, a rarer red-tail this weekend…

Looking forward to seeing how many different species we can find… #TunbridgeWells

I started my weekend by trudging around Whetsted GP’s where I got 51 species (just 80% of my NYD total there). 2 White-fronted Geese the best plus 3 Great White Egrets, 2 Ravens, drake Goldeneye, 600 Lapwing and a Muscovy Duck 🤭 RED-FLANKED BLUETAIL was #236 for West Kent - amazing!

It was only 200 metres more to Surrey 🧐🫣😎. Kent and LNHS won though 🫣🤗. Red-flanked Bluetail found by Will Oliver yesterday afternoon and very very elusive . Still difficult today but a few saw it well with patience . Also in the area, Woodcock, Brambling, Crossbills

Coot, just one, but that’s infinitely more than I had at Dunorlan Park in 2025. Also noted: at least 35 Moorhens around the same island where there was a very small area of unfrozen water. -5c 20 species by 8am. I may have seen more if I could have waited until sunrise… #TunbridgeWells

I popped out this morning before a slightly stressful day of work. 6 new birds for the year - Red Kite the best. Finished with pizza in the frozen snow this evening.

64 species at Whetsted GP’s, 42 at Haysden. 70 in total today. 4 White-front’s at Whetsted & 2 at Haysden probably the best - unless the duck I found in fading light on Haysden Lake was Lesser Scaup 🤔 13 Goosander & 6 Mandarin Haysden, 2 Goldeneye Whetsted the best if the rest. #KentBirding

My best UK birds this year were both at Dungeness and, as Owen notes, they were both new birds for the area. Both were also conveniently vocal although the Zitting Cisticola showed rather better than the EBW (though still wasn’t very easy). Happy New Year everyone!

A big surprise in my garden today, a Lesser Whitethroat sp! As for separating it to a race, after spending time looking at images online and reading various papers, I've come to the conclusion that it's above my pay grade. Lots more images still to edit. #UKBirding #kentbirding

Great Northern Diver Ramsgate Harbour mouth currently #KentBirding

Local birding has seemed like hard work at times this year. 3 new birds for Dunorlan Park with Wheatear, Crossbill and Great Black-backed Gull and a reasonable count of 43 Moorhen on 16 December. 43 is also the number of species noted there this morning - 3 Ravens the best.

A few random orchid pic’s from England in 2025. The highlights were probably from Kent: three alba Lady Orchids, 95 Bee Orchids on one roundabout and some pretty cool Late Spider’s. We enjoyed a few other orchids while out of the county. #orchids

2025 was a quieter year for Odonata for me but the Vagrant Emperors at Carlton Marshes made for a good day out in Suffolk with a bonus Red-veined Darter - which I still haven’t seen in Kent. The weekend in southCumbria, north Lancashire & West Yorkshire provided bits including Black Darter.

Butterflies from 2025 included my first Large Tortoiseshells. I chose somewhere further north for a birthday weekend away to include some High Brown Fritillary action and a small number of Northern Brown Argus. Back in Kent it’s always good to see Heath Fritillaries when passing. #Butterflies

Memories: 27/12 has provided Scops Owl🦉- Broadstairs (2024), my first Iceland Gull (Felixstowe, 1986), my first Lesser Scaup (Lechlade, 1994) and Northern Harrier (Titchwell, 2010). Boxing Day best birds: Spur-winged Plover 😲 at Dungeness (1997) & Brunnich’s Guillemot, Portland Harbour (2013).

On this day 2024 news broke and I was out of door. 32 minutes later I was on site, Frank was there already. He will be greatly missed on the Kent birding scene.

Treecreeper noted at half the sites visited today. I didn’t really expect to see them at the dentist or WH Smith’s - which was most traumatic as it’s no longer called that. 60 years of my life changed 😟 Woolworths closed 17 years ago, now this. May as well close the town 😢 5 Little Grebe best.

Tawny Owl the best at Dunorlan Park, #TunbridgeWells early this morning - and some good colours before the sun rose. A good count of at least 43 Moorhen yesterday morning (but still no Coot this year).

I’m not quite sure why I searched for well over four hours for the Yellow-browed Warbler to show but I did, and it did. A ten minute performance about 2:30pm. Also Little Egret, Grey Wagtail, Little Grebe and a presumed Otter along the River Lark, Mildenhall (Suffolk).

After a silly busy week (with another looming) I thought I’d remember back to some good times earlier this year when @traceyappleton.bsky.social and I spent a week on the beautiful island of #Rhodes It wasn’t warm but it was brilliant! We went specifically for orchids but saw other stuff too.

There may not be enough water in #TunbridgeWells but there was no shortage of Lapwings - well, 80 or so. A female Blackcap was also a surprise in Dunorlan Park especially as they didn’t even hang on into October this year. I avoided birding the water treatment works today 🤭 #KentBirding

We swung by Seahouses where this duck was in the harbour in failing light yesterday afternoon. A hybrid Eider x Mallard by all accounts. It was with c.10 Eider. A mid-morning Woodcock flying beside us for a short distance somewhere on the A702 was the only other noteworthy ‘on the way home’ bird.

Some mixed weather in the Lake District this weekend but great to see some snow on Sunday morning.

A chilly and quick, for me, walk round Dunorlan Park this morning as the mist rose and the frost lay yielded 29 bird species including a small number of Lesser Redpolls. #TunbridgeWells

25 Cattle Egrets (at least) in field behind Woolpack Inn. #KentBirding

Spring has sprung, although the Black-headed Gulls were standing on a thin layer of ice at Dunorlan Park first thing this morning. #TunbridgeWells

A very late Swallow with damaged tail streamer over #TunbridgeWells sewage works this afternoon. There’s plenty of insect food available still.

I was hoping for a better experience when I eventually got my first Crossbill for patch but there we go: two heading south - picked up calling - I got on to a back-end murky silhouette view as they disappeared off. Half a dozen Siskins too - and Woodpigeons heading somewhere.

After a disappointing Seawatch this morning, and after arriving at the Obs, we found that the Pallas’s Warbler rung on Sunday had been caught again in the moat, always worth a photo. @dungenessbirdobs.bsky.social #birds #birding #kentbirding #ukbitding

The first few days of November have produced two Sibe’ Stonechats in Kent (Bockhill, 2008, & Dungeness - thank you Jacob, dungenessbirdobs.bsky.social - 3 years ago today) Also: the superb summer plumaged White-biller Diver off Margate (2018) and Shorelark was also a mega Dungeness bird in 2019.

Dunorlan’ this morning: I had it in mind that it was All Saints Day but some @rtwparkrun.bsky.social participants didn’t seem to be dressed accordingly 😲😳😃 I hope everyone enjoyed it, maybe the first muddy one of the season. Birds: 38 species, triple Common Gull the highlight 🤷🏻‍♂️ #TunbridgeWells

40 species of birds on my wander around Dunorlan Park before work today including Common Gull again, 20+ over-flying Redpoll and my first Chiffchaff for a couple of weeks. A few more Blackbird and Redwing noted too. #63 species for the month is probably a record - 19 visits. #TunbridgeWells

An adult Common Gull in Dunorlan Park this morning makes it a record-breaking gull total for patch with six species 😳 noted this month/year/ever). Yep, 6 - scope for improvement! It also brings me to #63 for the month, 80% of my year to date total bird species. #TunbridgeWells

Pretty chuffed to just have a female Vagrant Emperor in/off at Sandwich Bay beach (opposite the Princes Golf Clubhouse) at 1240hrs. Hawked the beach for a few minutes before heading off inland #Odonata @birdguides.bsky.social

The fields adjacent to Dunorlan Park were being ploughed this afternoon. Scanning the 400 or so gulls a couple of fields away eventually got me my first patch Med Gull of the year. 38 Stock Doves was a good count (but not as good as 130 nr Whetsted y’day). Red Kite nice too 👍🏻 #KentBirding

71 species locally today starting with Firecrest and a few Redpoll at Dunorlan’ and finishing with a Barn Owl. 1w drake Pintail (Whetsted GP’s) the best but a couple of Great White Egret, a late Stonechat, Peregrine, Raven and Fieldfares noteworthy.

A few bits and bobs in the last couple of visits to #DunorlanPark #TunbridgeWells including at least 31 Moorhens in the rain 🌧️ on Sunday afternoon 😃 59 species noted here so far this month…

Good to be out again this morning with my first Fieldfares of the autumn, small numbers Redwings about, a few Redpoll over, a few Siskin (more yesterday), 20 Goldfinch and a little more unexpected a single Lapwing (a couple of fields away but that’ll do). #DunorlanPark #TunbridgeWells #KentBirding

Bobolink at Prawle Point, 2001, and Siberian Accentor, 2016 were good birds on 14 October, Gtr Y’legs & Song Sparrow made for a good morning duo - 16/10/1996, Grey Catbird, Rufous Bushchat & Blackburnian Wbr were the for 17 October in days gone by, Masked Shrike was 18/10 for me - 5 years ago.

Old days: I’ve seen 3 Daurian Shrikes this day (2, Norfolk, & Cliffe, Kent) + 1 at Dungeness on 15/10/2006. The bird at Holme was after the Two-barred Greenish’ at Wells which was after the Ramsgate King Eider & the day before the Great Knot, 1996 with Northern Waterthrush earlier that week!

Meadow Pipits: 40 was a good count at Haysden y’day afternoon but I noted them at 4 of the 6 local sites I hit. 2 over the house this morning were overdue house ticks. 50 species at Whetsted GP’s, where there were two Great White Egrets, was the greatest total from any of yesterday’s wanderings.

Patch month tick: House Sparrow Patch year tick: Linnet Patch tick: Great Black-backed Gull no less! ✔️ I’m so pleased I wasn’t in Yorkshire today (no, okay, that sentence might not quite be truthful). Dunorlan Park, #TunbridgeWells

Redwings and Kingfisher among the 36 species in just under an hour at Dunorlan Park this morning.

Sunday afternoons: Sandhill Crane, Suffolk - brilliant, 2011 Issy Wheatear, Kent, (1996) 4th for Britain American Buff-bellied Pipit, Salakee (900 observers that 1st day) - after Northern Oriole on ‘Agnes earlier White’s Thrush, Spurn, 2004 Audouin’s Gull, Dungeness, 2014 I do see some birds.

The dipping days of October have provided 3 failed attempts at Black & White Warblers, no show Pechora at Filey, 1994 (Lancey ample compensation), no show Rose-breasted Grosbeak, no show Rufous-tailed Robin, no show White-rumped Swift, no show Taiga Flycatchers & no show Chestnut-sided Warbler! 😳🤣

Dipping in the first days of October: Yellow-browed Bunting, Sandwich, 2022 Wilson’s Phal, Elmley, 2 days running, 1988 (Oriental Pratincole good consolation) Citrine Wagtail, Swalecliffe, 2017 - still need this for Kent Moltoni’s at Holkham, 2017 Parula, Portland, 1988 Green Wbr, Lundy, 2018

Redpoll over Dunorlan Park calling this morning was my first of the season (my first here since February in fact). 36 species in an hour made up primarily of the usual suspects including Grey Wagtail.

Birdy wallpaper was noted in the toilet @scarthinbooks.bsky.social (superb, see an earlier post) & Chatsworth House. Memories: visiting ‘no signal’ Dove Dale 20 years later: the day of the Acadian Flycatcher 😕 + passing Beeley where I clawed back Dusky Thrush! A great week in the Peak District.

Dungeness Spotted Flycatcher, Firecrest, Redpoll, Brambling in the Trapping Area 60 Siskin over 50+ Chiffchaffs and smaller numbers of Blackcap Merlin hunting the Point Thousands of hirundines moving South East out to sea this morning #kentbirdmigrationday