Richard's Pipit - Brendan Ryan

Reculver was the place to be this week! On the 13th, one of the local birders discovered a Radde's Warbler at the Old Caravan Park. It showed well and was calling, but only briefly. Only one other observer managed a brief glimps, but after that the bird could unfortunately not be refound. There have been 28 records of Radde's Warbler in Kent, with the previous one in November 2021 at South Foreland. The next day a Richard's Pipit was seen, also at the Old Caravan Park, with amazingly a Red-breasted Flycatcher in the same spot as well on the afternoon of the 16th. A Wryneck was also in the area on the 14th (at Chamber's Wall), while Reculver also joined in with the increase of Yellow-browed Warblers around the county, with 2-3 in the area. Reculver certainly hit a purple patch this week, what else can be found there this autumn?

Overall at least 15 Yellow-browed Warblers were reported over the week, with most in the north-east of the county, especially Margate and Ramsgate. A Great Grey Shrike was a good find at Worth Marsh where it was present from the 14th.

Great Grey Shrike - Martyn Wilson

Finch migration continued around the county, with good numbers of Brambling, Siskin, Redpoll and Crossbills at various sites. Over 3100 Chaffinches were counted at Dungeness on the 15th, with a new day-record of 80 Crossbills flying over there on the 10th. A Serin was heard and seen over the Dungeness Observatory on the 12th, but even better were three Twite that landed there briefly on the 14th. Sea-watching was low in numbers, but again there were some decent sightings: a couple of Pomarine Skuas, a Long-tailed Skua and a couple of Leach's Petrel were seen along the North Coast.

Further highglights included a Black Brant at Graveny Marshes, the Snow Bunting still at Swalecliffe, several Glossy Ibis still around and Ring Ouzels at Dungeness, Samphire Hoe and Seasalter. A Black-necked Grebe was on the Kent site of Scotney Pits, while a late Wood Sandpiper was in Faversham Creek. A couple of White-fronted Goose over Elmley were the first of the season, with the Pink-footed Goose still at Dungeness, with another three past Seasalter.

Yellow-browed Warbler - Brendan Ryan

A bit more rain and some south-easterly winds could ground more migrants in the coming week. Good luck.

Peter Eerdmans

Wryneck - David Smith

(Thanks to all the observers who posted their records on the KOS Sightings website, BirdGuides, eBird and/or the main Kent Birding WhatsApp groups, Thursday-to-Thursday. Apologies for any omissions. If anyone has any photos they think may be useful for the weekly, please send to me by Wednesday. All records of rarities are still subject to official confirmation by the relevant rarities committees)