Dungeness Day

Set off at 5.15 only to discover the slip road on to the M11 was shut until 6, so had a coffee at the services.
Arrived and went sea watching. It was blowing a gale and heavy showers were forecast, so wanted to get in as much as possible before the rain. From outside the sea watch hide there were 1000's of razorbills heading west and 100's gannets milling about in the strong wind. This made scope viewing difficult.
After 45 minutes I headed off to the ARC pit but plenty of water meant usual suspects, mainly wild fowl, so off to the RSPB Reserve in heavy drizzle. Coffee in the VC before heading to the nearby Dennis Hide. From here, great views of slavonian grebe and a drake smew, but much too wet to get the camera out. It was at this point I realised I had brought a batteryless camera, so was expecting superb views of something good.

teal

wigeon

I then headed off in full waterproofs around the hides, scoring with a female smew, several goldeneye, field full of curlews and not much else of note. Too windy for most birds to be about and, by now, horizontal rain meant viewing anywhere but from hides was very difficult. By the time I got back to the car I was just beginning to get damp and cold, so cut my losses and headed home before the rush hour through the tunnel. Not before popping round to Scotney Pits where barnacle geese were listed.
Species list: year listers in bold
slavonian grebe, great crested grebe, gannet, cormorant, mute swan, greylag goose, canada goose, barnacle goose, mallard, gadwall, shoveler, wigeon, teal, pochard, tufted duck, goldeneye, smew, marsh harrier, kestrel, pheasant (20 sp) moorhen, coot, lapwing, curlew, black headed gull, herring gull, common gull, lesser black backed gull, greater black backed gull, guillemot, razorbill, wood pigeon, collared dove, green woodpecker, skylark, pied wagtail, wren, dunnock, robin, stonechat,(40 sp) blackbird, cetti's warbler, great tit, blue tit, coal tit, long tailed tit, magpie, jackdaw, rook, carrion crow, starling, house sparrow, tree sparrow, chaffinch, goldfinch, greenfinch, reed bunting
57 species.