Dungeness is a triangular, shingle-buried peninsula, adorned by blackberries and peppered with shallow pools, that juts out into the English Channel like a landing strip for wayward migrant birds. Much of it is owned by the RSPB, and it attracts some very special visitors



This is a glossy ibis, part of a group of five who were skulking around the reedbeds this morning They are generally found in the warmer areas of the world and are only scarce visitors to the UK (the last record in Surrey, for example, was 1833! and Kent, despite its closer proximity to the continent, hasn't seen them for a couple of years; according to the BTO, the total number of British records between 1950 and 2007 was 91, so this was a real treat).

But there were other birds around too I caught a hattrick of raptors. Kestrels, of course, are widespread enough in their distribution:



But finding hobbies in October is much more difficult. This one caused quite a lot of excitement among the birdwatchers down below!



And overhead, the monarch of the eastern marshes southward bound.



This is a female marsh harrier, our largest and most impressive harrier. The UK stronghold of this magnificent bird is the wetlands of the East Anglian peninsula.



This is a wild and yet pretty place, full of little surprises:

Viper's Bugloss



Common darter



My internet access down here is somewhat limited so I'll catch up on my watch list when I get home