Thanet Birding - Birding main page
Foreness - Margate
Cemetery - Minnis Bay - Minster - North
Foreland - Northdown Park
Pegwell Bay - Ramsgate
Cemetery - Ramsgate Harbour
Buried deep in the heart of Ramsgate, this spacious necropolis has proved to be a quietly productive source of scarce migrants with the occasional real rarity from time to time. Unfortunately it's buried so deep that it's not that easy to find. The easiest way is probably to head down College Road where it joins the Margate Road at the railway viaduct (big bridgy thing, you can't miss it) and then keep going past the college until you see lots of trees on your left behind a big wall. That should be the cemetery. There is only one real entrance, along the south wall.
Most of the cemetery is open, though the tree cover is fairly dense along the west and north walls, and also alongside the bisecting wall which runs roughly down the centre. There's a fair scattering of pines around the chapel, which is the obvious place to look for any Crossbill that might be around (mid/late summer can be a good time), and the rowans are popular with migrant thrushes in the autumn.
The cemetery tends to be fairly well-covered, since both the college and the slightly more distant grammar school usually have a handful of blazer-clad birders in their ranks. I worked for two years at the college as a lab tech, and spent virtually every lunch hour here, racking up a respectable 80-odd species. Among the odder sightings was a Shelduck flying between the trees, and a Snipe flushed from a weedy grave. I also managed Hawfinch, Waxwing, Hen Harrier, Nightingale, all three woodpeckers, several Hobby, and Yellow-browed Warbler. Unfortunately I was fifteen years too late for the Alpine Accentor found here in May 1975, the second Kent record. But I did get attacked by a squirrel one afternoon.
Since this is Thanet, spring and autumn are the most productive seasons, with autumn turning up more than the spring. And as with the rest of Thanet, a lot depends on the weather. If it's lousy (which to be honest it usually is) then there probably won't be much to see, but if it's promising then there could well be something lurking here.
Thanet Birding - Birding main page
Foreness - Margate
Cemetery - Minnis Bay - Minster - North
Foreland - Northdown Park
Pegwell Bay - Ramsgate
Cemetery - Ramsgate Harbour