I met Lee and the rest of the group, only 4 of us on this one, we set off immediately to Ramsgate Cemetery for the Hume's Leaf Warbler which we successfully found. We only saw a few birds on the car journey down, the Hume's Leaf Warbler was the 8th bird of the 9 day trip and is a lifer for me so I was very happy. It was very difficult to photograph high in the trees against a very grey morning, oh - and it doesn't stay still for a second, these are the best I could manage.
79. Hume's Leaf Warbler
79. Hume's Leaf Warbler
A few more birds were seen around the cemetery but from there we head down to Folkstone where the cliffs are home to Northern Fulmars, some of which appeared to be contemplating nesting! Yet another difficult bird to photograph; white bird against light sky (I've got plenty of excuses for my amateur photography).
80. Northern Fulmar
80. Northern Fulmar
I think we headed to Romney Marsh from here but I can't remember as we visited so many sites..
We were looking for Glossy Ibis at Romney which again we were successful with, these are a UK tick for me. There were 2 showing very well and we managed some great views of them flying round as something put them up.
81. Glossy Ibis
A bonus bird was a pair of European Stonechats which I already have for the Big Bird Race, still a handsome bird though.
50. European Stonechat
Next stop Hythe for Lee's guaranteed spot for Purple Sandpiper which was awesome for me with Purple Sandpiper being a lifer and a blocker which I continue to fail locating. When we arrived, Lee turned pessimistic as the tide was high covering the groynes on which they hang out, typical I thought. We walked over to the beach where I felt a wave of hope at the sight of 3 small waders which turned out to be Turnstone.
Turnstone
Dejection didn't last too long as hidden being the breaker were 3 more small waders which became my first Purple Sandpipers, they were so obliging that I managed to obtain quite a few photos, these are my favourites.
82. Purple Sandpiper
82. Purple Sandpiper
82. Purple Sandpiper
82. Purple Sandpiper
We then went to RSPB Dungeness where we saw 4 Great White Egret, 2 Black-throated Divers (another lifer) and Smew. Unfortunately I didn't manage any photos of the Black-throated Diver but did manage one of my forth lifer of the day - a cracking adult Caspian Gull.
83. Caspian Gull
We stopped at a few places between those mentioned, predominantly Pegwell and Sandwich Bays. The total for the day was 78 species of which I personally saw 63 listed below, of which 4 were lifers with an extra being a UK first:
1. Rook
2. Carrion Crow
3. Magpie
4. Wood Pigeon
5. Collard Dove
6. Starling
7. Hume's Leaf Warbler - Lifer
8. Great Tit
9. Blue Tit
10. Goldcrest
11. Glossy Ibis - UK First
12. Teal
13. Widgeon
14. Mallard
15. Gadwall
16. Coot
17. Bewick's Swan
18. Mute Swan
19. House Sparrow
20. Reed Bunting
21. Chaffinch
22. Great White Egret
23. Canada Goose
24. Greylag Goose
25. Smew
26. Goldeneye
27. Little Egret
28. Black-throated Diver - Lifer
29. Purple Sandpiper - Lifer
30. Turnstone
31. Marsh Harrier
32. Kestrel
33. Buzzard
34. Great Crested Grebe
35. Northern Fulmar
36. Gannet
37. Cormorant
38. Little Gull
39. Oystercatcher
40. Curlew
41. Red Knot
42. Golden Plover
43. Bar-tailed Godwit
44. Pheasant
45. Shelduck
46. Caspian Gull - Lifer
47. Stonechat
48. Corn Bunting
49. Goldfinch
50. Jackdaw
51. Pied Wagtail
52. Tufted Duck
53. Shovelar
54. Spoonbill
55. Common Gull
56. Black-headed Gull
57. Herring Gull
58. Lesser Black-backed Gull
59. Great Black-backed Gull
60. Pochard
61. Lapwing
62. Redshank
63. Ring-necked Parakeet
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