Dipping

With news yesterday of one of the "influx" of Hoopoe being seen on waste ground in Hythe we made that this mornings destination of choice and arrived early in Hythe to search for the bird. I quickly found a year tick in the form of my first Common Whitethroat of 2015 and grabbed a single shot before it flew deep into cover.

Common Whitethroat

With the Hoopoe not showing we headed down to Dunge and marched around the trapping area in search of migrants where we found only Whitethroat and Chiffchaff for our trouble in a bitterly cold north wind. We checked the bushes around the moat and between the obs and lighthouse with little reward save a couple of Ravens and several Wheatear.

Wheatear

Sedge Warbler

Whimbrel

On the reserve we found five Whimbrel feeding in fields along the entrance track. With news breaking of five Bea-eaters down the road at Dover we left with intent but were stopped in our tracks when news came through that the birds had flown high to the west. Our last stop was Elmley where we found Yellow Wagtail along with the usual suspects. (Hares, Buzzard, Skylark, Redshank, Lapwing and Marsh Harrier to name a few)

Yellow Wagtail

Goldfinch

Year list now at 199