Our outdoor meetings took place on 25th and 30th October and we visited Sheppey and Dungeness. Our new groups of ten worked out perfectly with Lyn leading one group and Myself the other.

On both outings the weather was not kind to us but we battled through. We started at Shellness where we got the tide perfect seeing a smart drake Common Eider in moult and an unexpected Purple Sandpiper found by Lys Muirhead. A host of commoner waders were seen close by including Knot, Sanderling and Bar-tailed Godwit. A flock of four House Martins were also seen.

We moved onto Capel Fleet watching White-fronted Goose, a flock of Corn Bunting sitting right out in the rain, Sparrowhawk and a lovely ringtail Hen Harrier.

We spent a long time looking for the Great Grey Shrike that we failed to see and called it a day mid afternoon.

Our Dungeness trip we met at around 1pm and went to view the ARC pit where Dave Perrin spotted a Black-necked Grebe. The first of five Great White Egrets were enjoyed before we walked up into the reserve looking at Hookers Pits and Denge Marsh before reaching the Hay Fields. Five Cattle Egrets were recorded and a Glossy Ibis was seen by some. Due to the weather dusk fell early and we were all too soon driving home in the dark but not before we made a social visit to the Bird Observatory for a cup of Tea.

Migrant Hawkers braved the elements and were our non avian highlight. We saw 76 species of birds but only 11 species were added at Dungeness surely an all time low?