Day in Kent

Another good day in Kent, but still no jackpot. I've done okay in the past with rarity hunting trips into Kent and the Thames Estuary- found White-rumped Sands, Pecs, Red-footed Falcon, Kentish Plover, Red-necked Phalarope, Temminck's Stints, Yellow-brows, Green-winged Teal and twitched some great birds such as Nutcracker, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Terek Sandpiper, Desert Wheatear, Durian Shrike and loads of scarcities too but still hoping to find a mega one day. So the search goes on. I started off at Oare, Ebird list here  and then moved over to Shellness Ebird list here . I was also planning on doing Elmley but forgot it was closed on Tuesday so I headed home early instead and attended the local Extinction Rebellion meeting for the usual plotting and planning of the downfall of Capitalism (what will come first, my mega find or getting imprisoned for subordination? ) . As always the greatest act of subordination was going birding instead of working for the man.

Here's a few pics from the day:

 The Oare Bonaparte's Gull 

 Common Tern (black-billed). Presumably the bill of this bird is out of synch with the rest of the plumage, although it did appear to have a strong grey wash on the underparts too (below, right hand bird), similar to Eastern Common Tern (longipennis). The legs are red though so not Eastern. There are a couple of intermediate races but on balance probably just a bird with the bill going to winter colours before the plumage has moulted. Cheers Josh for a chat about this bird. 

 Curlews- approx 600 at Shellness in the usual roost. Always incredible to see. Also unbelievable that the French are to increase persecution of this species despite massive decline: ARTICLE HERE

 Juvenile Garganey at Oare 

 Juvenile Mediterannean Gull at Oare- lots of Meds around at the moment 

 Adult Curlew Sand with Redshank and Dunlin at Oare 

 First-winter Wheatear at Shellness 

and in the moth trap 

 Lunar Spotted Pinion at Beddington Farmlands (above and below). The first for me if I remember correctly (need to update the Beddington moth list) . Also finally got a result with a migrant moth but as usual it was a curve-ball. I was hanging out the obs window on Monday in the rain looking for some birding vis mig when a Hummingbird Hawk Moth came hovering up the side of the building. So I scored twice but not what I was expecting- a bit of vis mig and an unusual migrant moth, both seen by failing to find what I was looking for. Only the second one I've had Beddington. 

 Oak Processionary- loads of these in the trap at the moment

Military like configuration of hay bales on intensively farmed land. At least the Sixth Extinction is nice and tidy.