An excellent sea watch!

As I arrived at The Point this morning my expectations of a good sea watch were not high, the first half hour re-enforced this and then the passage started. Totals collated by AJG  also present DW:

07.00 - 11.40 all west unless stated.

Great Northern Diver: 1       Probably the same bird flew east a couple of hours later.    

Gannet: 82

Brent Goose: 1,895

Shelduck: 10

Wigeon: 6

Common Scoter: 118

Velvet Scoter: 1  came past with a Merganser

Eider: 1 very smart drake

Red-breasted Merganser: 15

Great Skua: 4

Arctic Skua: 1

Sandwich Tern: 29

Little Gull: 178 an excellent passage

Kittiwake: 21

Mediterranean Gull: 7+ around

Probable Hybrid Black-headed Gull x Mediterranean Gull: 1 around
Razorbill: 4
Auk sp: 19

Turnstone: 94 on beach

Purple Sandpiper: 2 on beach

Dunlin: 129

Knot: 3

Grey Plover: 2

Greenfinch: 7 in

Starling: 6 in
At c14.00 while checking the gull flock DW saw a Sabine's Gull fly east. 

Great Northern Diver

Eider

        Hybrid Black-headed Gull x Mediterranean Gull? (Look out for this one Mick and Richard)

Fred Olsen Line "Braemar" and a container vessel about to crush a Submarine.

While at home having my lunch news came of a Long Eared Owl on the reserve at Hookers that was showing in a Willow. So instead of going back to the beach I went to the reserve and minutes later PB was drawing me a diagram of exactly which Willow the bird was in. MH and PT kindly gave me a lift to the Willow, on arrival minutes later we found an empty tree the bird had gone and i'd missed a Sabine's Gull.
MH, PT and myself then went round Dengemarsh and Galloways  seeing very little of note.
When I left them I went to Hanson where the Glossy Ibis was still on what remains of the islands, giving a nice flyby when flushed by a Marsh Harrier, also there a Goldeneye, a Great White Egret, a Little Egret, a Chiffchaff and a male Merlin dashed across the lake.
In the fading light the Long-tailed Duck was asleep in the bay by the road at Scotney GP.

Busy on the sea this morning!

I joined AJG, BM, DW and MH at The Point this morning. We were watching from the shelter of our cars due to the rain and surprisingly cold NW wind. Totals collated by AJG 07.00 - 10.00 all are moving west unless stated:

Red-throated Diver: 3

Balearic Shearwater: 1

Gannet: 407

Brent Goose: 3

Common Scoter: 51

Red-breasted Merganser: 2

Merlin: 1 in

Great Skua: 24

Arctic Skua: 4

Sandwich Tern: 7

Kittiwake: 24

Little Gull: 1 o/s

Mediterranean Gull: 4 o/s

Auk sp: 33

Swallow: 1

Goldfinch: 77

The Long-tailed Duck was still at Scotney GP at the far western end in Sussex, on the Kent side 100+ Golden Plover, 2 Marsh Harriers and the Barnacle Goose flock.

At the ARC from Hanson a Great White Egret, a Marsh Harrier and the usual wildfowl, no sign of the Glossy Ibis there but it may well be in the fields around Boulderwall farm. In the Willow Trail a showy Firecrest, 2 Chiffchaffs and a Squealing Water Rail.

                                                 Firecrest in the Willow Trail

                                                  Firecrest in the Willow Trail

Firecrest in the Willow Trail

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The 2 Purple Sandpipers were near the Lifeboat station DB. 3 Common Buzzards, a Hen Harrier and a Short-eared Owl were seen on The Point DW.

Confiding Purps!

From The Point this morning many gulls feeding along the tide line, good numbers of Gannets and Kittiwakes mainly out on the horizon with a few Sandwich Terns and Auks. The picture above shows just a few of the 100s of Gulls on the sheltered side of The Point, feeding on plethora of Starfish, Sea Mice, Whelks and Scallops washed up by the stormy weather.

Scavenging along the tide line near the gulls, were 2 incredibly confiding Purple Sandpipers. Another sea watch mid afternoon was a re run of this mornings watch with 26 Common Scoter thrown in.

Following a call from MH I paid Scotney GP a visit to see a Long-tailed Duck which refused to lift its head in the half hour I was there even when a Marsh Harrier flew over. Another visit early afternoon found that it had moved further out into the pit. On the grass 150+ Golden Plover and the feral Barnacle Goose flock.

The Glossy Ibis is apparently still present on the ARC though now more mobile. On the reserve still 3+ Great White Egrets and 2 Black-necked Grebes also 28 Tree Sparrows at Boulderwall Farm and the usual Marsh Harriers.
From Plodland 18 Red-legged Partridege in the field opposite.

Wrong Decision!

Grey heron from Scott Hide

With lots of domestic stuff to be done today I could only get out for couple of hours this morning. I decided to spend my time wandering around the reserve seeing 3 Great White Egrets, 3 Black-necked Grebes, a Peregrine, 3+Marsh Harriers, Blackcaps, 2 Stonechats and lots of Blackbirds and Robins. Although it was a pleasant enough walk it seems that a sea watch would have been more productive as several each of Pomarine and Great Skuas were seen and 2 Great Northern Divers which are surprisingly scarce at Dungeness. It seems there was also a good passage of Mediterranean Gulls as well as a couple of Purple Sandpipers on the beach. The Glossy Ibis is still present on the ARC though it seems to be wandering further afield, maybe because the islands on the ARC are rapidly disappearing.

Twitter Rant!!!

To clear up some confusion for those who have asked me and for any one else who might be interested,  I am now Tweeting under #plodingbirder as I have lost access to #ploddingbirder. Access was lost because I forgot my password so could not re-activate it on my phone after I had to reset it. Ah but Twitter can send a reminder to my email! I requested a reminder several times and each time Twitter said that they had sent it. It never arrived! (I did turn off all my spam filters much to the alarm of Norton) Twitter does not recognise my email address even though they are emailing me to tell me this!!! No problem for Twitter fill in there online form to solve the problem. The form sends you round in circles and you end up at the sign in page which requests you to put in your PASSWORD!!!! Forum advice is to delete your account and then reactivate it, great now we are getting some where. I start to delete my account and get to the last stage when it requests my PASSWORD to confirm I want to delete the account!!!
I try to set up another Twitter account. Twitter says my email address is already being used even though they tell me they don't recognise it!!!
I have now opened a Gmail account in which to run Twitter which is why I am now tweeting under #plodingbirder  (single d).

Sea watching from The Point today: All west unless stated.

07.30-09.30                                              13.10-15.40
Red-throated Diver:  1                                    1
Gannet: 62                                                    153
Balearic Sheawater: 0                                      1
Brent Goose: 9                                                0
Common Scoter: 2                                           1
Grey Heron: 1 out                                            0
Arctic Skua: 0                                                  1
Great Skua: 1                                                   8
Sandwich Tern: 11                                           41
Little Gull:  0                                                    3
Kittiwake:  9                                                    42
Mediterranean Gull: 1                                        1
Mediterranean x B H Gull: 1                              0
Guillemot: 0                                                     17
Auk sp:  9                                                        11

    The picture above says it all about the ARC today. The Ibis was joined by a Great White Egret and a few Common Snipe.
New Diggings held another Great White Egret.

Beaten by the weather!

With a fairly strong westerly wind and light rain my expectations were not high. Arriving at The Point at c07.30 DW and AJG were already there watching from their cars I stuck it out till c09.15 combined totals: all west unless stated.
Red-throated Diver: 1
Great-crested Grebe: 28  +  9 o/s
Gannet: 86
Brent Goose: 4
Common Scoter: 165
Velvet Scoter: 1 (which I missed)
Red-breasted Merganser: 3
Sandwich Tern: 24
Kittiwake: 17
Little Gull: 13  (2 parties of 7 and 6)
Mediterranean Gull: 1 o/s
Auk sp: 5
Starling: 1085 in
From the causeway 1 Great White Egret and 5 Little Egrets could be seen on New Diggings.
On the ARC from Hanson the Glossy Ibis still running around the fast disappearing islands, 4 Little Egrets, 8 Common Snipe, a Dunlin, a Goldeneye and 2 Marsh Harriers were the highlights. The common wildfowl numbers seem to have diminished since the storm.
At a very wet and windswept Scotney GP small numbers of the common dabblers and diving duck. Nothing of note among the feral geese.
Early afternoon on the reserve I got a soaking on my way to Makepiece, from there 3 Great White Egrets, 5 Little Egrets and a Black-necked Grebe were all I could see of note through the rain, an early day beckoned.  

Rough Legged Buzzard

07.15-07.45 from the fishing boats a very poor return with 1 Arctic Skua, 6 Sandwich Terns, 4 Gannets and 8 Common Scoters.

With news that the Pallas's Warbler had been seen in The Willow Trail I made my way there but no luck despite numerous attempts today. A look in Hanson saw the Glosssy Ibis doing its usual thing, 3 Greenshank of note. I had just left the hide when SB called me back to see a juvenile Rough Legged Buzzard spotted by Roi Crabier over the Tower Pits. It moved down the railway line to Kerton Road then headed towards the lighthouses, then out over the trapping area/Open Pits, then back out over Lade towards Littlestone where I lost it, but was seen by others back near the tower and back of the airport. By driving down towards The Point, I managed to catch up with it near the lighthouse when it was in the company of a Common Buzzard, then again as it crossed the road near The Gantry. 

                                                Juvenile Rough Legged Buzzard

Crossing the road overhead by The Gantry!

1 of c300 Stock Doves over the ARC area today

Around the ARC today a late Hobby, 6 Sparrowhawks, a Merlin, 2+ Marsh Harriers, a Bittern, a Great White Egret, 2 Chiffchaffs, 2 Blackcaps, 6 Swallows, c300 Stock Doves, 6 Tree Sparrows, 6+ Siskins, 2+ Redpolls and c300 Golden Plover.
This afternoon a visit to Galloways and Dengemarsh Gulley with MH saw 7 Stonechats, 2 Wheatears and a male Black Redstart of note.

Disappointment after the storm!

First thing this morning with the wind still howling, bringing along the occasional shower I parked up on the beach near the fishing boats for some sea watching. The sea was relatively calm on this sheltered side of The Point looking into Lade and Hythe Bay. Sea watching was precisely all I did as apart from a few Gulls and Cormorants nothing of note was moving at sea.

Marooned in the ARC car park

After the disappointment of the sea watch I pulled into an empty ARC car park to find a 1w Great Crested Grebe stumbling around it. After a bit of chase I managed to catch it, then released it into the nearest Tower Pit, where it promptly dived, then surfaced c15mts away and started preening seemingly none the worse for its adventure.

During this visit to Hanson The Glossy Ibis was still present feeding in the choppy waters, also 2 Black-tailed Godwits, 2 Greenshanks, 2 Marsh Harriers and a Bittern. I spent some time in the Willow Trail trying to locate the Tit flock and hopefully yesterdays Yellow Browed Warbler with no luck just 2 Redwings flushed from the path. 

A stormy ARC from Hanson

 On Burrowes 4+ Great White Egrets, 10 Little Egrets, a fly by Bittern  and very obliging Great Crested Grebe from Scott Hide.

Calmer waters in front of Scott Hide

Mid afternoon another attempted sea watch was mercifully cut short with news from Marcus Lawson that he had found an elusive Pallas's Warbler in the Willow Trail. After much staring into bushes and straining of my deaf ears without success and the light starting to go, Marcus waved me over and I managed the briefest of views of the bird. In all honesty though all I really saw was a small phylloscopus warbler, hopefully better views tomorrow in lighter winds. While looking for the Pallas's Warbler, the Penduline Tit was heard but not seen several times by those present who aren't acoustically challenged (which means I didn't hear it). 

A Bit of a Blow!

An hours sea watch from the fishing boats this morning was very slow, seeing of any note 27 Sandwich Terns, 1 Little Gull, 2 Turnstones and c200 Goldfinches over. Many Gannets could be seen very distantly.

At Scotney very little of note in the strong winds. The feral Barnacle Goose flock was still present and several hundred Wigeon were hunkered down.

A squall at the ARC today (spot the Glossy Ibis)

On Burrowes from Dennis's hide 2 Great White Egrets and 8 Little Egrets in a sheltered spot.
In 2 visits to the ARC the Glossy Ibis still strutting around the islands, also present the long staying Curlew Sandpiper, a Grey Plover, a Greenshank, a Dunlin, 2 Goldeneye, a Red-crested Pochard, 2 Marsh Harriers and a Great White Egret. As I was about to go into the hide a second time, a Long Tailed Tit flock came across the path with a 2 Chiffchaffs and a Yellow Browed Warbler, disappearing into the Willow Trail. I relocated the Yellow Browed Warbler further down the Willow Trail but promptly lost it again in the gale blown Sallows.

Deja vu!

I spent most the morning tidying the garden and securing anything that could move in the predicted gales. While doing this a  new bird for Plodland popped up on the fence, a superb male Black Redstart, but disappeared very quickly, also 4 Swallows flew over.
An hour late morning at the fishing boats saw a single Arctic Skua, a Little Gull, 37 Sandwich Terns, a few Gannets, 1 Guillemot and 4 Swallows out.
This morning 2 Penduline Tits were reported from the reserve with a very vague location and nobody seemed to know anything about them, also a Red-necked Grebe seen on Burrowes this afternoon could not be refound.
A Great White Egret on New Diggings also 2+ more on the reserve. The Glossy Ibis still strutting around the islands in the ARC among all the usual wildfowl.
Another hour late afternoon from the fishing boats was very disappointing, seeing 3 Curlews west and just a few Gannets and Sandwich Terns.