Birding Herne Bay Downs

I was out early Saturday morning listening for owls again where as the light picked up, I then had a seawatch for an hour or so in a light wind. Birds noted included 149 Brent Geese, 4 Grey Partridge, 1 Pheasant, 25 Feral Pigeon, 12 Woodpigeon, 5 Collared Dove, 23 Oystercatcher, 4 Golden Plover, 4 Curlew, 19 Redshank, 1 Kittiwake (73) flew east, 140 Black headed Gull, 2 Common Gull, 70 Herring Gull, 3 Great Black backed Gull, 9 Great crested Grebe and 31 Red throated Diver. There were 4 Cormorant, 1 Great Northern Diver (74) flew west, 1 Little Egret (75), 1 Tawny Owl heard in the dark, 2 Great spotted Woodpecker, 1 Green Woodpecker, 2 Peregrine, 5 Blue Tit, 3 Great Tit, 2 Skylark, 1 Song Thrush, 14 House Sparrow, 2 Pied Wagtail, 3 Chaffinch and 41 Linnet. 

I was out again early this morning in the dark where I spent some time in Bishopstone Glen hoping to get a Redwing but did not see or hear any. Other birds noted before a look at the sea from here included 2 Golden Plover, 1 Snipe and 2 singing Song Thrush. A look at the sea produced 270 Brent Geese, 1 Common Scoter, 2 Oystercatcher, 7 Kittiwake flying east, 136 Black headed Gull, 5 Common Gull, 101 Herring Gull, 1 Great Black backed Gull, 6 Great crested Grebe, 4 Red throated Diver, 1 Fulmar (76) flying east, 3 Cormorant, 1 Little Egret, 1 Green Woodpecker, 5 Jackdaw. c30 Rook (77), 1 Firecrest, 1 Grey Wagtail and 1 Meadow Pipit. After dropping my wife off for an appointment, I spent some time watching the sea again where I noted 9 Brent Geese, 5 Teal, 6 Velvet Scoter (78) flew east giving nice scope views, 32 Feral Pigeon, 2 Collared Dove, 13 Oystercatcher, 3 Curlew, 16 Redshank, 18 Turnstone, 3 Little Gull (79) flew east, 1 Kittiwake east, 104 Black headed Gull, 2 Great Black backed Gull, 7 Great crested Grebe, 57 Red throated Diver, 2 Gannet, 21 Cormorant and 4 Carrion Crow. An excellent weekend on the patch with 7 year ticks but still no Redwing or Fieldfare. They can be tricky here early in the year as I remember from last year.