I spent the morning and early afternoon at Dungeness,it was colder than I had expected with a raw wind.My first point of call was the fishing boats where I had hoped to see the Snow Bunting which has been seen in the area.Although I missed out on the Bunting there was good numbers of Guillemots with a smaller number of Gannet offshore,all of which were mainly passing east.
From there I went round to the RSPB reserve,stopping off on the way at the RAC pits to take pics of a Marsh Harrier which was in the air not far from the road.Once on the reserve I saw most of the specialities but one bird I wasn`t expecting was frustratingly seen just a few minutes before I arrived at the Dengemarsh hide.A male Penduline Tit had been seen just a few feet away from the front of the hide feeding on bullrush heads,I felt sick and to make things worse the light had just improved.Although I stayed around for a while it wasn`t seen again.
I was partly compensated a little later on when I found a showy Slavonian Grebe on one of the smaller pits further on round the path.All in all a good days birding and I must have seen at least five different Marsh Harriers,four of which were in the Dengemarsh area.