Bluethroat - Josh Tompsett

The best bird of the week was a lovely male White-spotted Bluethroat at Langdon Cliffs on the 8th. Seen by two birders in the morning it was very elusive, but finally showed in the evening allowing a few photos to be taken. Another good bird could not be totally confirmed, a probably Alpine Swift was seen briefly over Great Wood, Worth Marsh on the 9th. There were further interesting migrants seen, but all were flyovers and didn't linger, such as a Serin over Foreness on the 6th and a Black Kite over Grove Ferry on the 8th and Seasalter on the 9th. An Iceland Gull was at Coldharbour before flying west. A Glossy Ibis was at Bluebell Farm, Worth Marsh, while a White-tailed Eagle flew over Aycliffe. A few Ring Ouzel were seen, with one trapped and ringed at Dungeness on the 7th. Common Cranes continued to be seen with one at Seasalter on the 9th and a pair at Stodmarsh on the 8th which were seen mating before flying off the next morning. A few Ospreys were seen, with one lingering off Motney Hill. A Hooded Crow, a subspecies these days, was in a ploughed field at Langdon Cliffs early in the week.

Ring Ouzel - Martin Casemore

Sea-watching at Dungeness improved a bit this week with a few Velvet Scoter, Eider, Black-throated Diver, the first Whimbrel of the season and a Great skua and even an early Pomarine Skua (on the 8th) new for the year list.

In terms of summer migrants, the warmer weather helped a lot. Wood sandpiper (Worth, 8th) and Garden Warbler (Stodmarsh, 6th) were early relative to their normal arrivals, while Yellow Wagtail (first at Minster, 2nd), Nightingale (Orlestone, 5th), Common Redstart (North Foreland, 6th), Cuckoo (Bough Beech, 8th), Hobby (Elmley, 3rd), Common Tern (Dungeness, 2nd), Tree Pipt (Cliffe, 6th), Whitethroat (Elmley, 7th), Lesser Whitethroat (Dungeness, 9th) and Reed Warbler (Stodmarsh, 4th) were all more inline with typical arrival or even a little late. Among the Yellow Wagtails, a couple of Blue-headed Wagtails were seen. The coming week we can look out for Grasshopper Warbler,  Arctic Tern and Swift.Good luck.

Blue-headed Wagtail - John Carnell

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)

Common Crane - Tom Cackett