Kent Birding - 1.1.10

Myself and my friend Bob Harris decided to start the year off birding around Dungeness. A Buzzard near Potters Bar was only the 4th bird seen. Unfortunately we reached Ashford and hit a massive snow storm that had coverd 2 lanes of the M20, so fearing we'd be stuck for days we turned off and headed to North Kent.

First stop was Oare Marshes where the highlights were 90+ Avocet, Spotted Redshank, Pintail, Bearded Tits and a couple of Marsh Harriers.

Next stop was Leysdown on Sheppey but due to the strong winds the sea was splashing over the sea wall and dashing our hopes of seeing any divers or grebes.

We then headed inland to Capel Fleet and saw a ringtail Hen Harrier.

A quick visit to Harty Ferry added Red-Breasted Merganser and Rock Pipit to the list and finally we went back to Capel Fleet for roosting raptors and had excellent views of a male Hen Harrier but slightly worse views of c.6 Bewick's Swans and a Barn Owl.

78 species in total so not a bad start to 2010.