Rose-coloured Starling Dungeness

It has been a long while since I saw an adult Rose-coloured Starling. I can't remember the last one I saw but it is over a decade ago. Not that there haven't been ones to see, it just seems that I've got more lackadaisical about things with age. That said, I remember being over the moon with the first one I ever saw, an adult, at Moelfre, Anglesey during the summer of 1994. Then again, I was only 13 at the time so youthful enthusiasm back then was a given.

So roll forward to the last few days, and it seems like we're in for a bit of an influx. There have already been about a dozen turn up in the last week, and reports of good numbers on the continent suggest they're only just arriving here. But given that the London birding was a little predictable, and I'd faffed about on whether to spend a few days up north, an adult at Dungeness was going to be a pleasant diversion from moping around locally.

Jamie P and I met at Crayford, and despite good numbers of gulls, there wasn't much in them today in a brief look. Getting down to Dungeness mid afternoon was easy, with there being delightfully little Bank Holiday traffic. However, seeing the bird in the trapping area was not easy at all - and it took us a couple of hours. We'd just started walking back towards the observatory when I got a message from Andy A saying that it had reappeared. And what a stunner it turned out to be: -

adult Rose-coloured Starling Dungeness, Kent 28th May 2018

Initially sat up on the tops of the bushes, we spent nearly an hour with the bird as it spent a lot of time devouring caterpillars in deep cover. A cracking looking thing, with its mantle glowing in the evening sun.