Another Gloomy Day full of Birds

08.00-09.00 from the fishing boats this morning the sea was alive with birds. As it was fairly calm I counted the Great Crested Grebes and in one sweep counted 1,856. Razorbills and Guillemots were streaming out of Hythe Bay as the tide dropped. I estimated c2,000 Razorbills and c1,000 Guillemots moved out of the bay. As the range safety boat came out of the bay it pushed a flock of 192 Red-throated Divers before it. Smaller numbers of Gannets, Kittiwakes and Common Scoter came out of the bay.

Slavonian Grebe on Hookers 

New Diggings held 6 Smew (1 Drake), 4 Goldeneye, 2 Great White Egrets and the usual widfowl. The south end of the ARC pit held another Great White Egret, c100 each of Gadwall, Shoveller and Pochard and a Marsh harrier over.
A walk around the largely deserted reserve found large numbers of the common wild fowl on most of the pits, 3 red head Smew and another Great White Egret at Christmas Dell. The flooded hay fields on Dengemarsh were full of Lapwing, Golden Plover and Wigeon.  A wander round the back of Hookers Pit revealed a Slavonian Grebe and 3 vocal Marsh Harriers.
A search for Grey geese at Scotney at lunch time drew a blank, not even a Greylag, though still 100s of the common wildfowl and 1000s each of Golden Plover and Lapwing.
Early afternoon  back at the ARC, an hour spent in an empty Hanson Hide was rewarded with another Great White Egret, a red head Smew, 5 Goldeneye, a Bittern, 2 Marsh Harriers, 2 Cetti's Warblers, 1 Water Rail, 2 Chiffchaff s and Goldcrest with the Long-tailed Tit flock.
On Walland Marsh this afternoon 78 Bewick Swans and 2 Whoopers feeding on the old potato fields. Several 1000s each of Lapwing and Golden Plover being harassed by a Peregrine and Harriers. While watching a Harrier roost in which 13 Marsh Harriers dropped in, a smart adult male Merlin dashed through after a Skylark, later I watched it on a fence post plucking its supper. Also 2 Bearded Tits were seen and Water rails were squealing and in the distance the evocative call of the Common Crane going to roost.
  

Fog

This morning from the fishing boats produced a few Guillemots, Razorbills, Red-throated Divers, Kittiwakes and the occasional Gannet that loomed out of gloom briefly before disappearing back into the fog.

Very poor visibility on the peninsular today

On New Diggings at the south end 6 Smew could just about be seen,  provided they stayed close to the road as could a Great White Egret at the south end of the ARC.
Scotney was just as bad with most of the pit obscured, but 2 Egyptian Geese could just about be seen at the Sussex end on the near bank.
The fog seemed thicker on Walland  Marsh so much so that the Bewick Swans could be heard but not seen so I called it a day. 

Tundra Bean goose

Looking out the bedroom window this morning and seeing how dark and damp it was outside I quickly slid back into bed for an extra hour. The late start was fortuitous as while having breakfast a garden first of 2 Bullfinches dropped in.
I drove straight to Galloways and spent 20 minutes on the bank by the tank scanning all round, seeing a grand total of 1 distant Marsh Harrier and a few crows. While there I received a text from MB telling me that a Bean goose was on show at Scotney. Arriving a few minutes later the bird was on show in the Sussex part of the pit, it later moved to Kent where I managed a record picture of it. Also there a Slavonian Grebe, huge numbers of common wildfowl and 1000s each of Golden Plover and Lapwing which put on spectacular displays each time they were disturbed. After a tip off from PT that there were a couple of Corn Buntings at the back of Scotney Court Farm, I walked up the concrete road and out onto the marsh where I found a flock of 16 Corn Buntings. 6 Brent Geese were on one of the floods and 10 Little Grebes on another and 4+ Marsh harriers over.
A walk up to the pines and round the Tower Pits from the ARC car park produced 2 Cetti's Warblers, 2 Marsh Harriers, 1 Little Egret and little else.
  

Harbour Porpoise demise

Sea watch from the fishing boats 08.00-09.25 with DW, PT and MH: The first thing I saw was a dead Harbour Porpoise on the high tide line. It looks like the fins have been cut off, so it was probably trapped in a fishing boats nets.

Red-throated Diver: c100+ off shore

Great-crested Grebe: 1300+ off shore

Fulmar: 1w

Gannets: c100w

Common Scoter: 7w

Red-breasted Merganser: 1w

Turstone: c20 on beach

Dunlin: c200w

Bonxie: 1+ off shore

Kittiwakes: c100 off shore

Auks: 1000+ off shore (probably equal numbers of Guillemots and Razorbills)

Harbour Porpoise

A call from CT had us hot footing it to Scotney where he and BH had found 7 Greater Whitefronted Geese and a single Pinkfoot among 100s of Greylags and a Bar-headed Goose. A spectacular sight was a male Hen Harrier beating up a Peregrine over the pit and at the same time flushing 1000s of Lapwing and Golden Plover, also there a Slavonian Grebe picked out by DW a Marsh Harrier over and 100s of Wigeon, Tufted duck and Pochard.
From the Causeway 1 Great White Egret and 3 Smew also another Great White Egret on the ARC pit.
Out on Walland Marsh the Common Crane still showing distantly, 46 Bewick Swans, 2 Whooper Swans, 6 Waxwings found by CT and BH.
This afternoon 14 Mistle Thrushes at Cold Harbour and only 3 Fieldfares now that the huge flocks of last month have stripped the bushes of berries. A late afternoon watch on an isolated reed bed  in the hope that some Harriers might come into roost drew a blank but 6 Bearded Tits and some squealing Water Rails was some recompense.

Yet another victim of an angler

A beautiful sun rise at the fishing boats this morning, saw the 3w Glaucous Gull nearby on the beach, several 100s of Great Crested Grebes on the sea, a few each of Gannet, Kittiwake, Guillemot and Red-throated Diver on the sea.  As the sun rose sea watching became difficult looking straight into it, so I went round to the sea watching hide.

 At the sea watching hide I noticed a juvenile gull behaving oddly, but quickly realised it was another anglers victim. David Gower who keeps the beach clean joined me, I pointed the gull out to him, as he lives nearby he fetched a knife and pliers and we went down the beach to see if we could help the gull.

Hooked

 As the hook was embedded into its lower mandible and the line was secured to the beach, it was unable to fly away which was fortunate.

No Escape 

 I easily caught the gull and could see that it had ripped its flesh around its bill trying to free its self.  I held it tightly while David pushed the hook through the lower mandible enabling him to cut the hook off the line and free the bird from its bond. Immediately that was done I set it on the beach and it flew off hopefully learning a lesson and leaving me to head for The Patch.

The hook has penetrated the lower mandible

 At The Patch 100s of Black-headed Gulls also 2 Mediterranean Gulls of note, a Black Redstart was on power station wall.
New Diggings held 6 Smew (1 drake) and 2 Great white Egrets. On the ARC Pit 100s of the common wildfowl and 32 Bewick Swans of note.
A walk around the reserve was pleasant with 100s of the common wild fowl, another Great White Egret on Denge Marsh, 3 Marsh Harriers and a pair of Stonechats.

Probably the rarest birds on the marsh today were 3 Egyptian Geese at Scotney and little else of note there. On Walland I could only find 28 Bewick Swans (others had 54 + 2 Whoopers). A wander out onto the marsh on one of the footpaths produced the Common Crane and c20 Marsh Harriers but it was cut short by the rain.

Orlestone Forest

As Dungeness would be busy today I decided to go to the woods. Driving along Brittania Lane I saw the familiar shapes of 20 Waxwings in the tops of the road side bushes, they were dropping down out of sight into a garden to feed then back up. As I pulled up to try and photograph them ,it seemed every man and his dog come out to see what I was doing. So I left them to it.
Orlestone was very wet and muddy which seemed to deter most people. The bright sunshine seemed to bring out the woodland birds, including all 3 woodpecker species. Nuthatch's and Treecreepers, Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tits, were numerous and even a few Redpolls were found.       

Kittiwake victims

Sea watching from the fishing boats this morning 08.30-10.30 produced:

Red-throated Diver: 2E  3W

Fulmar: 6W

Gannet: 595W

Brent Goose: 42E

Common Scoter:  11W  4E

Grey Plover: 1W

Knot: 31W

Dunlin: 21W

Kittiwake: 356W   Several were oiled

Little Gull: 5W

Guillemot: c150 off shore

Another anglers victim!

 On New Diggings the usual 2 Great White Egrets and on the ARC Pit 3 Smew were the highlights.
A few hundred mts from home looking very bedraggled in the heavy rain 41 Waxwings on Singleton Hill, Singleton by the roundabout.

Singleton

As I had some domestic stuff to do today I decided to spend an hour wandering around Singleton this morning. Less than 300mts from home I heard a trill and there was a Waxwing sitting high in a bush for just a few moments before disappearing into nearby gardens. At the top of the hill 4 Lesser  Redpolls  were feeding in some Birches. Near the lake a Nuthatch was calling and a Coal Tit was on a garden feeder as was Blue and Great Tits. A pleasant enough walk but not enough to change my mind about moving to the coast.

A very good and busy seawatch

Thinking that not much would be happening at The Point I had leisurely breakfast and drive down arriving at the fishing boats at 09.45 just as party of 60 Brent Geese flew east over the shore. For the next 3 hrs there was a non stop westerly passage of sea birds except the Brent geese that were mainly west. With so much going on I am sure I missed quite a few birds especially when i trying to photograph the Little Gulls. Thanks to Kevin for helping me to keep count and the spotting the Pom. Totals for 09.45-12.45 as follows:

Red-throated Diver: 128W     11E

Great Crested Grebe: n/c but many on sea

Fulmar: 4W

Gannet: 692W   Including 1 adult with a flouresent yellow mantle colour marked?

Brent Goose: 812E  (in 26 flocks)   19W

Shelduck: 6E

Wigeon:7W

Teal: 4W

Gadwall: 4W

Common Scoter: 11W

Dunlin: 79W

Sanderling: 10W

Grey Plover: 4W

Turnstone: 2W

Pomarine Skua: 1W

Auk: 1740W    (Majoity Guillemots)

Kittiwakes: 1364W

Little Gull: 28W

3w Glaucous Gull: on beach

See Here (Mick Southcott) for better images 

New Diggings held 2 Great White Egrets and 4 Goldeneye. Burrowes Pit held 6 Goldeneye, 100s of the usual wildfowl but no Sawbills. On the ARC 2 red head Smew, 4 Goldeneye, the usual wildfowl, 2 Marsh Harriers and a Great White Egret.

A Trudge in the Mud

By 10.00 I was going stir crazy, so I made my way to Orlestone Forest for a trudge in the mud but at least it was sheltered from the wind. Most the birds were seen around the car park, where a Coal Tit let me try my old 40D which considering the light and the rain did not perform to badly. On the trudge (Wellies a must) Most the common woodland species were seen, lots of Jays, Nuthatches, Long Tailed, Blue and Great Tits, several Great Spotted and Green Woodpeckers, 2 Bullfinches  but still a distinct lack of Redpoll and Siskin. 1.5 hrs later the rain got worse and I gave up and went home.