A trip to Kent for a Dusky Thrush - May 18, 2013

Dave, Ken, Roger and I had arranged to go to Lakenheath and then the Norfolk coast today but overnight news of a Dusky Thrush in Kent caused us to rearrange our plans.  After picking Ken up at Corby we drove to Margate Cemetery where the bird had been present for the last three days and again this morning.  We managed to get parked quite close to the entrance to the cemetery and we joined several hundred other birders present on site.  The bird was perched in a sycamore and was only partially visible but over a two hour period I managed to see most of the bird but only briefly in full view.

The head pattern was not totally unlike a Redwing, which is was initially thought to be, but the ground colour was greyer and the supercilium and submoustachial stripe lacked any of the rufous tones of Redwing.  The ear-coverts and crown were greyish-brown and the greyish-white supercilium flared behind the eye.  There was a distinct greyish-brown malar stripe and the throated was finely spotted.  The underparts were greyish-white with greyish-brown spots on the upper breast and flanks merging into a greyish area on the lower flanks.  The ventral region and under tail coverts were whiter.  The upperparts were greyish-brown with the greater coverts edged white, the tertials and primaries more narrowly.  The secondaries where noticeably more rufous and formed a distinct mid-wing panel.  The tail colouration was as the rest of the upperparts and again the feathers were finely edged white.  The orange colouration on the bill extended a fair way along the length becoming brown at the tip and along the culmen.  The legs and feet were pinkish.

A single Ring-necked Parakeet was observed in flight.

We called at Reculver on the way home where a female Montagu’s Harrier had been reported.  When we arrived on site we found out that there was also a male Red-backed Shrike present but as we walked along the bund apparently very few birders had seen it and it was very a long walk.  We decided due to time that it would not possible to attempt the shrike but we did have good views of the harrier.