Swift sp - John Carnell

The Dusky Wabler at Minster Pumping station was confirmed this week and although it remained elusive, it showed well on a couple of occasions. The seventh of the year no less, it was accompanied by a Siberian Chiffchaff.  A Swift sp over North Foreland on the 17th was intriguing, from pictures it looked like a possible Pallid Swift, yet another one in this area of Kent. After a couple of weeks of absence, two Shore Lark were seen again at Elmley on the 13th. The number of winter swan on Walland Marsh increased to 10 Bewick's Swans and two Whooper Swans.

Other than that there was little change this week. the Glossy Ibis remained at Worth, good numbers of Caspian Gulls continued to be seen, with upto 19 at Dungeness, five Hen Harriers (of which two males) continued to come into roost at Grove Ferry, the Snow buntings remained at Minnis Bay and Sandwich Bay, while the Greater Scaup remained at New Hythe GPs. Five Pink-footed Geese were at Elmley, while six White-fronted Geese were at Scotney, where the Black-necked Grebes also at times popped into the Kent side of the pits. The Starling murmeration at ARC continued to be on show with at times upto 15 Cattle Egret coming to roost, athough a count of 60 Cattle Egret at Staple was even more impressive and quite possibly the biggest group ever in the county.

Greater Scaup - Terry Laws

In terms of sea-watching, two Little Auk past Sandwich were a nice suprise on the 14th, while Sandwich also hosted a Red-necked Grebe on the sea on the 17th. The Long-tailed Duck showed itself at Tankerton this week, while the occasional Velvet Scoter, Great Northern and Black-throated Diver were seen again from the various sea-watching points.

As we move towards Christmas, hopefully people have time to enjoy some winter birding. Last year some megas were found this time of year, what will this year bring? Feels a Black-faced Bunting must be hiding somewhere..

Starling murmeration plus Cattle Egrets - Gill Hollamby

Peter Eerdmans

(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)