Looks like I mist again...!

Well....was it foggy mcfog-face this morning here in Pembury....so it was with real trepidation I set out for Dungeness....with the forecast there being much clearer than here....thankfully when I reached Northiam the fog was now mist and beginning to give better distant views.....and when I got to the coast the visibility was not too bad...

1000 - 1330 Cloudy, very light mist, cold, ESE f1-3

...and it was cold too....although nowhere near as windy as last week it still managed to penetrate however many layers were put on....

I started by stopping (eh?) at Camber where the Red-necked Grebe showed after a few minutes.  When I had arrived a man passing by had commented that he had seen it every day and to him it just looked like another duck....and to be honest....it wasn't really that much to look at.....winter plumage, for the most part, in many birds, is pretty drab....and it was a drab thing...but on the list...

Moving on I was determined to stop at Scotney and get the variety of geese that have been present for some while....however...they had had other ideas and were missing.  A few Greylag and Canadas were on the far bank feeding in a dip or ditch an only showed occasionally....moving on to the east side of Scotney the 100 or so Barnacle Geese were quite close to the road....

Barnacle Geese

There were a few Dunlin hanging around the small pools on the bank...

Dunlin

I moved on and attempted to find the Bewicks Swans just outside Lydd but failed.....I then moved on to the ARC pit, but there was nothing really to report from here so again moved on, this time to the reserve.  With the Long-eared Owls having not been seen for a couple of days it was a risk stumping up the £4 to go and look at some Willow...but that's what I did...went and looked at some Willow (though heard a Chiffchaff there)...then went and looked at a mostly empty Denge Marsh...then went and looked for a grebe on Burrowes....nothing...by which time time itself had moved along somewhat...

It became obvious choices would need to be made...the patch for a possible gull species....or re try for the swans and geese...a fellow birder said the swans were missing earlier in the day...but I went anyway...and again...they were missing....has anyone seen 50 Bewicks Swans...?

On the way past Boulderwell I spied an Egret....

...you can play...spot the Great Egret...

With the Great Egret in the bag....and  male Tree Sparrow obliging on the bramble by the feeders in the front garden of the farm house it was time to find the swans....

Actually...it was time to fail again....they had refused to show....

Going back to Scotney I stopped to see if the geese had re surfaced...but they hadn't....luckily the guy at the reserve said there had been a Black-necked Grebe present earlier in the day...and after a few minutes scrutinising the birds along the back of the pit...there it was....so at least I had a 4 grebe day....

A ten minute stop by the beach just before Camber turned up a several Gannet and some Common Scoter....I'm sure if I had spent a bit of time here I would have had more as there were a good number of birds appearing and disappearing in the waves....

7 new for the list...and over the 100 for January...quite pleasing I have to admit...