07/03/2025

Pintails and Shovellers flying East over the sea watch hide

A Dungeness record breaking day count of Pintail migrating past The Point and quite possibly a national record day migration count. A day that will stay with us forever.😁

06.30-17.30 SSE 3-5          
Brent Goose: 634E
Shoveller: 474E

Gadwall: 1E

Pintail: 3,705E  (Many of these birds were very high over the hide and some over the Power Station)

Wigeon: 4E

Teal: 97E

Common Scoter: 317E

Red-breasted Merganser: 1E
Great-crested Grebe: 14 Present

Oystercatcher:

Grey Plover: 7E

Golden Plover: 6E

Curlew: 27E

Bar-tailed Godwit: 3E

Turnstone: 1W

Sandwich Tern: 12

Little Gull: 5E
Kittiwake: 134E  
Black-headed Gull: 25E
Mediterranean Gull: 58E
Common Gull: 149E
Herring Gull: Present n/c
Great Black-backed Gull: 51E

Lesser Black-backed Gull: 10E
Razorbill: 22E
Auk sp: 163E
Red-throated Diver: 312E     8W
Fulmar: 4E.   1W
Gannet: 584E     16W

Cormorant: present n/c 

Peregrine: 1 present

Skylark: 5 in off
Grey Seal: 1
Harbour Porpoise: 2

Very High Pintails and Shoveler with some stratospheric birds top centre

Very High Pintails and Shoveler

Lovely to watch the flocks of Gannets coming through today

Brent Geese along the shoreline with an Oystercatcher 

Yesterdays 2nd calendar year Caspian Gull in front the hide

05/05/2025

Poor Visibility and a calm sea made for a very slow sea watch, just a couple of flocks of Brent Geese were the highlight.

I couldn't find the female Scaup or the Purple Sandpiper at Scotney today, the best there was a Greenshank. The Tree Sparrow flock and c200 Golden Plover was still at the old sand pit but little else.

The reserve remains quiet, with the female Smew still on the ARC and the Long-tailed Duck still on the New Diggings,  a Bittern has been booming regularly on Denge Marsh, also a single Water pipit was seen there per JY.

Meadow Pipit on the perimeter wall

Black Redstart on the perimeter wall

Long-tailed Duck on the New Diggings still camera shy

Smew on the ARC is very camera shy

Redwings in a Wood Ant nest in Orlestone Forest yesterday

03/03/2025

As the peninsular was fog bound this morning there was no sea watch. A wander from the ARC to Denge Marsh and back was pretty quiet, a Bittern calling half heartedly at the back of Hookers was the highlight. At the back of Denge Marsh hide a Mink scurried across the path, disappearing into a ditch after going through the anti predator fence round the hayfields. On Boulderwall Fields 67 Golden Plover were noted.

The Scotney Purple Sandpiper have itself up to me this morning

A cycle ride out to Scotney and Walland Marsh gave reasonable views of the Purple Sandpiper found by Stephen Message at the weekend, Greenshank and Green Sandpiper there. At the western end of the Scotney complex in East Sussex the flock of c100 Tree Sparrows is still present. The swirling masses of Golden Plover and Lapwing seemed to have moved off leaving a few stragglers. A Ring-tail Hen Harrier, several each of Marsh Harriers and Common Buzzards were over the sheep fields and set aside.

Tree Sparrows at the old sand pit which has now filled with water, so no Sand Martin colony or migrant waders this year.

Tree Sparrows 

There are at least 60 Tree Sparrows in this image

Little Owls enjoying the warm afternoon sun on Walland

Good to see Greenfinches coming back onto my garden feeders

01/03/2025

A lay in this morning courtesy of the fog which didn't clear till 08.30ish.

09.06-10.06 from the Sea Watch hide with JY who kindly collated the numbers:

Mute swan 3 offshore then west
Shelduck 5E
Mallard pr offshore
Common Scoter: 7E  
Great-crested Grebe: 1W 1E  
Kittiwake 1W 1E 
Black-headed Gull: Present n/c
Mediterranean Gull: 2E
Common Gull:  Present n/c
Herring Gull: Present n/c
Great Black-backed Gull: Present n/c   
Auk sp: 2E
Guillemot 1E
Red-throated Diver: 5W 12E
Fulmar 1E
Gannet: 121E
Cormorant: Present n/c
Peregrine hunting offshore then in-off
Merlin hunting offshore then in-off
Grey seal 1
Harbour Porpoise 1

The Long-tailed Duck was still on the New Diggings this morning and the Smew still at the ARC.

I found 3 Jack Snipe today with aid of the thermal imager

The reserve in general remains fairly quiet avian wise, hopefully things will start to pick up a little but probably not till next month.

Surprise of the day was an excellent find by Stephen Message of a Purple Sandpiper at Scotney viewed from the double bends, shame it was a bit to far for any photographs. It remains a a scarce bird on the peninsular and definitely the first one I have seen at Scotney. The female Scaup was also still present there.