2015 off to a decent start

We changed the venue for our annual New Years Day Bird race this year and instead of heading to Norfolk we drove to Dungeness in Kent arriving on the beach at first light. We bagged Gannet, Guillemot, Razorbill, Fulmar and Red-throated Diver to name a few before moving on to Denge Marsh to catch up with the Cattle Egrets. On the way we located a couple of Great White Egrets as we drove past ARC pit. After we'd spent some time with the Egrets we headed off to Walland Marsh and quickly found the Bewick's Swans and Bean Geese although the single Whooper Swan evaded us.

Next stop was Scotney Gravel Pits where we eventually located Scaup and Black-necked Grebe.
Back on the reserve and we found Kingfisher, Bittern, Tree Sparrow, Goosander and Smew to mention a few. A Pallas's Warbler was reported but despite arriving within minutes of news going out we failed to locate it.

We drove through Chilham on the way to Elmley and found the Great Grey Shrike very obliging sitting on the wires as we pulled up. At Elmley we found a single Redshank, Kestrel and Pheasant to bring the year list up to 81 which mirrored last years day one total.

So I'm off and running and chasing ticks again.

YEAR LIST : 81