2 days in Kent

As I was giving a talk on Developing a Local Patch to the members of Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory, I took the chancve to spend a little time birding in Kent. After a 5.15 start on Thursday, I was at Dungeness beach for first light and it was immediately apparent that the sea was full of Great crested grebes (1000+) and the sky full of auks (7000+) About 70% razorbills. Also, a few gannets, red throated divers and a solitary great northern diver. In the gull department, the usuals + several kittiwakes.
After this a trip to the RSPB reserve for a coffee and great views of tree sparrow, great white egret, smew, snipe and several other year listers. Then, off to Sandwich for the talk and a few pints in the pub before an early start. This morning myself, the warden and several locals went off to track down a dartford warbler near the golf course. After about half an hour we found it, albeit eleusive, consorting with 2 stonechats. Then, further up the beach a party of 7 snow buntings whilst a flyover group of linnets made their way on to the year list. Finally, a stop at Oare where pintail, redshank, pink footed geese and greenfinch made the list whilst I also had great views of marsh harrier, scaup, lapwing and p-lenty of regular wildfowl.
In all, the following were new for the year:
red throated diver, guillemot, razorbill, common scoter, gannet, kittiwake, brent goose, turnstone, great notrthern diver, tree sparrow, oystercatcher, shelduck, pintail, cettis warbler, stonechat, marsh harrier, snipe, great white egret, little grebe, water rail, dunlin, goldenplover, snow bunting, dartford warbler, greenfinch, linnet, redshank, ring necked parakeet, ringed plover, pink footed geese. Photos to follow