Birding Braunie

This year, up to now, I have done all my birding in Essex and Herts. But this week I have managed to slip my chains and abscond down to Kent; Dungeness to be exact. To me, Dungeness is comfort food birding. You know what you’re going to get but Dungeness always chucks in a couple of surprises every now and then. Dungeness sometimes makes you work for your birds. This was such a day. I generally work the Long Pits, Trapping area and Desert first, looking for migrants. There were a few Chiffchaff and Blackcaps calling. Checked every Blackbird for a Ring Ouzel and spent too long chasing Common Whitethroats for a photo with no success. I wandered about aimlessly before deciding to try sea watching instead. This would surely be stacked with goodies. As I approached the Nuclear Power Station’s perimeter, the instantly recognisable call of a Black Redstart filled the air. A rather smart male (they’re always smart) sat squarely on a post waiting for me to get my camera out. ...

September 1st and the early morning darkness greets me as I step out into the autumnal chill.What summer we had is disappearing fast. And that is great news. Late summer in the world of birding can be a little quiet and everyone has an impatient eye on the calendar and autumn can’t come quickly enough. So today I had high hopes of a good days birding and a trip down to Dungeness felt like a good plan and if nothing else, it should clear the hangover I felt from the night before. Dungeness. Note the complete lack of anything avian in this picture. Funny old place Dungeness. Not just for the dilapidated shacks, perculiar hand-scripted offers for lugworm and shellfish propped up against rusted lumps of marine machinery but the fact that there are quite often days when there are no birds on the land apart from the odd woodpigeon or scruffy magpie. So it can be a bit of a gamble. Overnight rain is no bad thing and if the wind is coming off the sea from a south westerly direction, seaw...