Red-throated Divers

Dungeness - overcast and very cold, se 4 - An hour in the draughty old hide, overlooking a grey and choppy Channel was just the ticket to introduce the guests to the delights of seawatching at Dungeness! And boy was it cold, even I resorted to woolly hat and gloves, must be going soft... Anyhow, over 250 Red-throated Divers put on a marvellous show passing from Rye Bay to Lade Bay, with a supporting cast of Gannets, auks, a few Kittiwakes, the drake Eider on the sea and a 1st winter Little Gull that flew close to shore.

                                Red-throated Divers, Dungeness

Lade  -  From the Tavern viewpoint we scanned the foreshore where a mixed flock of Sanderlings and Dunlins scuttled along the receding tideline along with a few Turnstones and Oystercatchers. Further down the beach we could just about discern a small flock of Knots.

                               Goosander, Lade south

  On the gravel pits a drake Goosander was the highlight, while on the way back to Ashford station we diverted via Hythe where two Purple Sandpipers were velcroed to the sea defence blocks opposite the Imperial hotel.
  We finished the Birdwatching Break for Clare and Peter on exactly 100 species, but more importantly a fairly typical range of wintering wildfowl, raptors, waders and farmland birds were noted. 

                               Purple Sandpiper and Turnstone, Hythe