Pomarine Skua - Martin Casemore

Sea-watching took centre stage this week as 'Pom season' at Dungeness fully started. Over the week, more than 65 Pomarine Skuas were counted past the sea-watching hide. There were also good numbers of Black-throated Diver, Great Skua, Black and Little Tern, but the highlight of the week were 1467 Little Gulls counted on the  25th. This constitutes a new day record for Dungeness surpassing the previous total by more than 300. Sea-watching outside of Dungeness was a lot more modest, but a Red-necked Grebe was seen around the east coast, while a handful of Black-throated Divers and Pomarine Skuas were seen as well.

There were two typical spring 'overshoot' migrants this week. A female Red-footed Falcon spend an hour or so at Reculver before flying off high, while a Hoopoe was seen briefly at the northern end of the golf course at Littlestone-on-Sea.

Red-footed Falcon - David Smith

Several Wood Sandpipers migrated through the county, with five at Oare Marshes, while a Curlew Sandpiper was seen at Dungeness on the 25th. Another Wood Warbler was seen and heard in the trapping area at Dungeness on the 27th. The Common Crane continued its presence on Seasalter Levels, while the Ring Ouzel at Uplees was reported till the 26th, with another at Langdon Cliffs on the 25th.

In terms of Summer migrants, we added Turtle Dove and Whinchat, with Spotted Flycatcher the one to look out for the coming week.

At the end of April, the unofficial Kent year list stands at 233, exactly the same last year's end of April total. There were many summer migrants and seabirds added over the month as expected, with the standout birds being Red-footed Falcon, Black Stork, Hoopoe, Purple Heron and Bluethroat. As we move into May, surely even rarer birds will be found. Good luck.

Peter Eerdmans

Little Gull - Martin Casemore

(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)