Birding Herne Bay Downs

With a very strong North wind forecast for this morning, I arrived on the Downs for a few hours seawatching. My normal desired place is sheltered for a NW'ly or NE'ly but with the wind blowing straight in from the North, I had to seawatch from the bus shelter on the slope which gives a nice elevated view but is further back from the sea. I had an excellent few hours where I managed to see a Kent tick in the form of a PUFFIN which was seen initially at Reculver and thanks to the news being promptly put out, I was able to keep scanning the sea where I found it flying West c200yds out. It showed well through the scope where the large bill could even be seen. Also seen were 205 Brent Geese, 1 Oystercatcher, 1 Arctic Skua west, 2 Pomarine Skua west, 1 Great Skua west, 1 large Auk sp west, 16 Little Gull west, 183 Kittiwake west, 6 Common Gull, c30 Black headed Gull, 39 Herring Gull, 6 Great Black backed Gull, 2 Great crested Grebe, 4 Red throated Diver, 14 Gannet, 82 Cormorant, 1 Kestrel, 1 Carrion Crow, 1 Blackbird, 1 Robin and 1 Dunnock. With the toes starting to go numb, I decided to call it a day around 11:15. I have made a few visits in the past few months to the Downs and am seriously considering giving it a good go next year to see how many species can be seen in the Herne Bay Downs area. It is relatively under-watched which appeals to me and no doubt host an excellent variety of species throughout the year. I've already seen some excellent species over the years in this area (Pallas's Warbler, Yellow browed Warbler, Red Breasted Flycatcher, Tree Sparrow, Sabine's Gull, Lapland Bunting, Icterine Warbler, Dartford Warbler and Dusky Warbler) and last year, I found a Caspian Tern. I've also managed to obtain permission from one of the local residents to put out my recorder at night which could produce some excellent results on the coast. If I can persevere through all the dog walkers, cyclists, runners and fisherman, I think I could well find a few good birds here. I certainly have something to think about and consider over the next few weeks. 

Kittiwakes