Stodgemarsh Penduline Tit

A days birding in Kent with Paul and Ephraim. We had several target birds for the day the main one being Penduline Tit at Stodmarsh. A new bird for all three of us. We arrived at Grove Ferry about 08:00 and then proceeded to slip, slop and slide our way along the extremely muddy trail towards the boardwalk. We managed to take at least one wrong turning along the way but Paul's impression of Adel Taarabt lightened the mood. Ephraim thought Paul's fall into the mire was hilarious but I informed him it was not nice to laugh at other peoples misfortune. When we got close to boardwalk one or two birders were leaving. One commented "it's showing really well at the moment". Of course when we had walked the final 50 meters it had flown to some alders and was not showing. After a few minutes someone had it in their scope and kindly let us have a look. Then after waiting patiently for about 45 minutes the Penduline Tit dropped into the reedmace right in front of us. It showed really well offering great photo opportunities. Well it would have done for me if I had an sd card in my camera! We spent some time admiring this cute little bird and then decided to head off to Lade Gravel Pits. This time we took a more direct and a lot less messy route back through the reserve. Thanks Rob nice to meet you! On our way back we managed to see a Cetti's Warbler and heard a few Bearded Tits "pinging" A couple of Marsh Harrier were also seen.

On arrival at Lade Gravel Pits we soon connected with the Black-throated Diver. It was favouring the south end of the north pit.

Dungeness next and our fist stop was near the fishing boats. Here we saw a Glaucous Gull on the roof of a fishermans hut. No time to admire this bird as it quickly flew off. "The patch" was next where we noted; Guillemot, Razorbill, Kittiwake and Little Gull.
Onwards to the ARC pit, four Smew here 2m and 2f.
Over the road to the RSPB entrance track, 3 Tree Sparrow on the feeders here. A few hundred yards along the track we stopped and scanned the fields. We were fortunate to view 4 Tundra Bean Goose and 2 Great-white Egret from this spot.
We the went to the RSPB visitor centre to look at the "recent sightings", nothing grabbed our attention so we headed over to Walland in search of Bewick's and Whooper Swan. This is not an area I have ever been to before so it was more by luck than judgement that we noticed a flock of Swans fairly distantly in a field. We stopped the car and scoped the Swans. They seemed to be all Bewick's we looked hard but could not dig out any Whoopers. I think this location was near Hawthorn Corner.
Our final stop of the day was what we hoped was a raptor roost near the Woolpack Inn.  We parked in a small layby near to the Woolpack and followed a public footpath along a high raised bank for a few hundred yards until we reached a fair sized reedbed. Over the next hour or so we saw 10+ Marsh Harrier. Several Bearded Tit that had been pinging away eventually showed themselve's. A Barn Owl, several squeeling Water Rail and a nice sunset apart from the pylons and wind turbines provided a pleasent end to the day.
Paul's Pics below; Penduline Tit from the boardwalk at Stodmarsh and Black-throated Diver at Lade GPs.