Brian gets a free day and we decide to head to our old favorite Dungeness for a Grey Phalarope. we leave at 5.15 and arrive around 6.45 after a trouble-free journey.
We start off by the boats and walk up the beach without any luck, every mile on this Stoney beach feels like ten. Jimmy and I get a year tick when two Drake Eiders pass by.
We walk up & down the beach but no sign of the Phalarope. So it's off to Appledore a few miles away in the hope of seeing the Osprey for another year tick.
We have been told to park by the bridge and walk down river where we find the Osprey sitting in a field, it sits there for ten minutes before flying up and perching on a nearby telegraph pole, it then gives us great flight views as it heads back to a bare tree that we are told is a favorite perch of the bird. Now it's off to Lympne where a Sabine's Gull has been showing well. We just pull into the park and see a small group by a fence and the Sabines is seen just a few feet away from them, with the car parked we are soon joining the group to get great views of the bird that comes to just a few feet away from us and apart from a few short flights it is never far away from us.
Back to Dungeness for another go at the Phalarope but this time we head to the hide on the beach, where we are told it had flown up over the patch about half hour ago.
After an hour it's a no-show so it's time to head home, a nice day birding that got us some year ticks, and just nice to be at Dunge again.
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| The Sabines Gull |
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| Again |
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| The Dungeness bird |
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| The Appledore Osprey |
