The Pale Stonechat
A day after seeing the thrush I joined up with Ricky and Terry again and headed down to Dungeness for another controversial bird. This time a washed out grey and white Stonechat had been found just south of the ARC pit and ID'd in the field as a possible
Stejneger's Stonechat which is a race of Siberian Stonechat. A sample of poo had been DNA tested and the result came back saying it was indeed Stejneger's. With this news quite a few birders headed down to see this bird but doubts raised by some saw the DNA test re-done just after Christmas and it came back as just a normal
Stonechat. Somehow the sample got mixed up with a sample from a bird at Spurn!
After seeing the
Stonechat we had a quick sea watch which produced a
Great Skua and 19
Red-Throated Diver go past. Just inside the entrance to the RSPB reserve we saw 3
Great White Egret,
Bearded Tit and a drake
Ring-Necked Duck and on the feeders a
Tree Sparrow. On the way back home we stopped off in Lydd and I added my last species to my year list with 29
Bewick's Swan out in a field.
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