Dunge

Slavonian Grebe

I popped down to Dungeness on Sunday, when, for the first time I was getting feelings that I'd rather be spending my time at my local patch rather than enjoying a guaranteed selection of nice winter wildfowl and grebes! Canon's Farm has really got its grip on me, I can't let it get any tighter or I'm done for.
Highlights included a showy Slavonian Grebe and 3 redhead Smew (including a very showy individual which was frustratingly obscured much of the time by reeds) on the New Diggings and a Black-necked Grebe on Denge Marsh, the former two year ticks. Marsh Harrier was an easy year tick with 2 birds seen in addition to 1 near Lydd.

Black-necked Grebe


Smew (redhead)

As I was leaving to have a bit of a late afternoon seawatch, one of the members of staff informed me he had found 14 White-fronted Geese on the fields around Denge Marsh; change of plan for an easy year tick.
Got to Denge Marsh road and soon got onto some large gathering of Greylags and Canada Geese, after a few minutes of scanning in the bitter wind, I got onto at least 3 White-fronts. I didn't bother even trying to get a photo, they were too distant and the wind was too strong.

A seawatch followed which got me nothing more than Gannet for the year and a frustrating diver which I'm pretty sure was Black-throated; couldn't have been the commoner one which I need for the year could it? Not a bad day overall.