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. ...

I know life begins at forty but what happens at fifty? Well I can tell you, nothing bad. Okay, it’s only been one day but what a day it was. Regular readers of this blog will know that I like an early morning wander along the seawall at South Fambridge. So at 7.30am with the sun warming up the chilly early morning air, I took the usual route west. There wasn’t much about. A few skylarks were singing somewhere up in the heavens (not long for me now) and a couple of corn buntings played birds on a wire. Along the river, Brent geese were collecting and getting ready to leave these shores for the summer and the usual waders, oystercatchers, curlews and redshanks added the atmospherics with their echoing calls. On the way back, a few reed buntings flitted about in the narrow reeds that margin the fine strips of water that run parallel to the path. Just before you get to the entrance to the bridleway, there are a few old buildings that have seen better days. There were robins, dunnocks, bl...