Sunday 2 December 2012

Harty Ferry Raptor Watch Point

Saturday afternoon I headed out to Harty Ferry Raptor Watch Point in Kent for a few hours birding with Shaun and his 11 year old nephew, George. Conditions for not ideal as it was quite windy and very poor light, and of course absolutely freezing! Immediately on arrival we had the very pale Common Buzzard, that we think might be getting mistaken for a Rough Legged. At the watch point we had numerous Marsh Harrier, (c.20), 1 Peregrine and the pick of the bunch, 3 ringtail Hen Harrier (apols for the really crap photo below).

We took a drive up the lanes to try and relocate some Waxwings that had been reported earlier, but could not find any amongst the hundreds of Redwing and Fieldfare.


With fingers and toes numb through cold, we headed towards Swale but the light was getting really poor, so we abandoned our plan to walk out onto the reserve but instead found this smart Med Gull on the sea wall.