I was booked to offer a presentation on The birds of The Algarve and Baixo Alentejo regions of Portugal for Gravesend RSPB group, so off before 5.15a.m. for a morning around Dungeness. Over the bridge whilst it's still free is always a bonus and on the beach at Dunge for first light. Nothing, apart from a yellow legged gull near Prospect Cottage, a little gull towards the patch and a few gannets. Off to the ARC pit which was full of choppy water with one great white egret showing distantly.
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| Dungeness sunrise looking south east |
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| Barnacle geese at Scotney Pits |
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| Tufties in choppy water at The ARC pit |
So little about, so I headed to the RSPB reserve, which had the VC closed, so no coffee. However, in the car park, as I wandered towards Dennis's hide, 3 tree sparrows. From the hide, 6 great white egrets on the far bank, close to the Long Pits.
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| 3 of the 6 great white egrets |
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| Joined by a fly in little egret |
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| Posy tree sparrow, as below |
Following my coffee disappointment, I headed off to Chilam near Canterbury. Within a minute of parking in the parish hall car park I noted a great grey shrike upon wires before it flew to various trees and posts around the small humped back bridge in Branch Lane. A good bird. In hawthorns were blackbirds, fieldfares and a solitary redwing whilst in the sedge in the field opposite the car park, a mistle thrush. A kestrel flew over and a grey wagtail moved on from near the bridge as I tried for a decent photo of the shrike. The light was poor, so I messed around with camera settings as I used my new lens for the first time. All tricky, but relatively pleased with these results.
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| Great grey shrike on a grey day! |
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| Just got lucky with this shot in really poor light |
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| hungry blackbird |
All in all, a right pleasant morning and, so off to Gravesend for the presentation and a wonderfully receptive audience before a drive home that saw me back in the village by 5.30. A lovely day and now preparing for a day filming for Herts and Middlesex WT on the River Ash tomorrow morning, catching and identifying invertebrates. Should be a great time. Where are my waders?
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