Kent Ornithological Society 
- Details
- Peter Eerdmans
- Weekly highlights
When we decided to start a ‘Kent birding – Highlights of the Week’ from January onwards on the KOS website, we could not envisage it would start with two mega rarities. What had so far been a modest year for rare birds in Kent, ended with a bang. On 24 December, an American Yellow Warbler, was discovered at the sewage works at New Hythe GPs. The first ever for Kent and an amazing record also for British and European standards. Extraordinarily, the location was not far from the famous Golden-winged Warbler, also a warbler from America, that was seen in the winter of 1989 near New Hythe. If that wasn’t enough, news of the third Scops Owl for Kent, and the first since 1971, broke on 28 December. It had been present for a few days in trees along a cricket field at Broadstairs. Both birds were seen by many observers, although they could be elusive, and were not seen on some days at all. Particularly with calm, sunny weather, the Yellow Warbler showed well. Both birds were still present in the New Year.