Kent Residential – Day 1
With four days of immersion in nature to look forward to, our intrepid crew set off from the depths of the West Country and headed east. It’s a long way to Sandwich, so we decided to break up the journey and stop for some birding en route.
Our two cars met up at Staines Reservoir – just off the flight path for nearby Heathrow. Not the most promising location for a birding trip on the face of it, but like so many of these artificial water bodies, it attracts significant numbers of birds. We knew that six or so black-necked grebes had been regularly seen on the pools. Luckily, it didn’t take long for an eagle-eyed member of our group to find two of them just a hundred metres or so offshore. These two were soon joined by a third, and the remaining three were quickly found amongst the flocks of tufted duck. What was most surprising was the huge numbers of great-crested grebes that also congregated on the pools. The fun didn’t end there, as we also had at least one wheatear and a couple of yellow wagtails along the banks and railings.
Our trip was off to a great start – target species acquired! Time to head for Kent.
After a brief lunch stop, we headed for Pegwell Bay, located at the northern end of Sandwich Bay. This site has a large intertidal area and can be good for waders, gulls, and, at this time of year, migrating birds. We hadn’t timed it perfectly, as we arrived around high tide, meaning most of the birds were on a distant spit rather than closer in on the foreshore. Still, we did pretty well, adding another 26 species to our list.
Next, it was time to head to Sandwich Bay itself and check into our accommodation at the bird observatory. Before we even had time to check in, we were in for a real treat. A death’s-head hawkmoth, which had been found as a caterpillar and reared at the Obs safe from predation, had hatched a day or so before and was about to be released. We got the chance to see this moth in the hand – and what a beast it was! I think it was the first one any of our group had seen, and it was a real highlight of the whole weekend. As if that wasn’t enough, we were also shown three little owls in the Obs garden that had successfully bred this year.
What a first day!
