First thing this morning at the ARC from Hanson a couple of Common Sandpipers, a Little Ringed Plover and Black-tailed Godwit among the Lapwings, Black-headed Gulls and wildfowl.

At the reserve centre I assisted Barry Banson with the reserve MV, much to our surprise and delight we found a gorgeous Beautiful Marbled a very scarce migrant from the continent.

The sea was apparently fairly quiet this morning though 6 Arctic Skuas were seen also 2 Great white Egrets and a Spoonbill flew out to to sea per AJG.

 Beautiful Marbled

 Common Sandpiper

An excellent walk around the reserve Plenty of waders around the reserve including a Wood Sandpiper, 8+ Green Sandpipers, 7+ Common Sandpipers, 2 Ruff, 19+ Dunlin, 14+ Ringed Plover, a Greenshank, 21 Redshank, 6+ Great White Egrets, 2+ Whinchats, 4+ Wheatears, a Stonechat, many Common Whitethroats and Sedge Warblers, Reed Warblers, Cetti's Warblers and more, an adult Yellow-legged Gull was in the gull roost by the entrance track.

 Sedge Warbler

 Juvenile Yellow-legged Gull at the fishing boats

This afternoons sea watch from the fishing boats in the company of AJG:

14.40-16.10:

Shelduck: 6 down
Gannet: 28 around
Cormorant: 6 around
Sanderling: 2 down
Arctic Skua: 4+ around
Mediterranean Gull: 1 down juvenile
Yellow-legged Gull: 1 juvenile around
Kittiwake: 29 down
Sandwich tern: 107 down
Common Tern: 30 down
Sand Martin: 38 out
Grey Seal: 1
Harbour Porpoise: 10+

 Juvenile Yellow-legged Gull at the fishing boats

Portland Moth

A Portland Moth was the star find in the Plodland MV also the my first Dog,s Tooth today.

Whitethroats!

4 Hummingbird Hawkmoths on the power station perimeter wall this morning. The walk from there to the observatory taking in the lighthouse garden, station scrub, West Beach and Lloyds saw just a couple of Common Whitethroats, a Black Redstart and a Peregrine. After a cup of tea at the observatory where a Tree Pipit flew over, I decided to wander around the Desert without any expectations. 3 Wheatears around The Moat were a good start and as soon I reached the Gorse Common Whitethroats started appearing, by the time I'd covered The Desert, shingle and scrub up to Kerton Road I'd seen  c100 Common Whitethroats, with much smaller numbers of Lesser Whitethroats and Reed Warblers, also 4 Yellow Wagtails, Green and Great Spotted Woodpecker, a nice Tit flock of Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits with a few Chaffinches tagging along, 2 Marsh Harriers, a Common Buzzard and Sparrowhawk. Back at the observatory a very pale Common Buzzard came over, joined by a normal plumaged bird and a Marsh Harrier, they flew out over the power station then seemingly saw the sea and changed there minds and headed back inland.

worn adult Lesser Whitethroat

Reed Warbler

fresh juvenile Lesser Whitethroat

2 very different Common Buzzards over the observatory

Black Redstart at Lloyds

Bedstraw Hawkmoth at the observatory courtesy of Barry Banson.

A visit to Hanson saw all the usual wildfowl, Cormorants and Gulls but little of note.

An hour at the fishing boats this afternoon topped up my sun tan but was a total non event avian wise.

Wood Sandpiper from Makepiece

Late afternoon on Burrowes 19 Black-tailed Godwits, 19 Dunlin, 18 Ringed Plover, 2 Redshank, 2 Turnstone, 4 Common Sandpipers, a Green Sandpiper, a Wood Sandpiper, Great White Egret and a Sandwich Tern over all from Firth and Makepiece.

 Wheatears on the reserve

 Early morning around the reserve still plenty of Common Whitethroats, Sedge Warblers, Reed Warblers and a few Willow Warblers, 5 Wheatears, 1,000+ Sand Martins moved through, 3 Ruff, 12 Black-tailed Godwits, 3+ Common Snipe, 4+ Common Sandpipers and 4 Great White Egrets of note as well as all the usual wildfowl.

 Marsh Harrier Denge Marsh

  

Yellow Wagtail on the Plodland roof catching flying Ants

An hour sky watching from home saw 4 Marsh Harriers, 4 Common Buzzards, a Sparrowhawk, a Kestrel, a Little Egret, 3 Grey Herons, 100s of Sand Martins moving through and  4 Yellow Wagtails of note.

This afternoons sea watch from the fishing boats was not particularly inspiring, 4-5 Arctic Skuas chasing Terns off shore, a few Gannets and 100s more Sand Martins on the beach and moving south. 

 Greenfinches feeding on the Sun Flowers in the field opposite home

From the driveway this morning I watched 6 Greenfinches feeding on the Sun Flowers in the field opposite, also there 20+Common Whitethroats, 10+ Sedge Warblers, 10+ Willow Warblers, 20+ Linnets, 8 Goldfinches and 4 Yellow Wagtails.

 Black-tailed Godwits over Denge Marsh early morning

After receiving a text from AJG telling me not to bother with the sea I drove the short distance down to Springfield Bridge this morning, getting out of the car 2 Ravens flew over also flock of 10 Black-tailed Godwits flew over towards The Midrips. From the bridge I could see at least 3 Great White Egrets on the marsh, 100s of Sand Martins and a few Swifts. In the ditch by hay field 3 a party of  5+ Bearded Tits along with many Reed Warblers, a few Sedge Warblers, a Cetti's Warbler and a calling Water Rail. From Denge Marsh Hide 3 Ruff, 2 Common Sandpipers, 3 Common Snipe, 2+ Marsh Harriers and a flock of 45 Golden plover that flew over towards Rye.

 100s of Sand Martins over the lakes again this morning

The walk from Denge Marsh to Makepiece saw 2 Lesser Whitethroats, several Reed Buntings, more Common Whitethroats, Willow Warblers, Reed Warblers and Sedge Warblers and a Sparrowhawk.

From Makepiece 100s of Sand Martins some resting on the newly created islands, 4 Common Sandpipers but little else due to disturbance from on going works. The walk to the VC then up the entrance track and round to Denge Marsh and Springfield Bridge saw basically the same as the first walk to Makepiece with the addition of 2 Wheatears and a Common Buzzard.

Denge Marsh Gully produced more Common Whitethroats, Willow Warblers and another Wheatear.

13.40-16.00 from the fishing boats with AJG & RW many thanks to them foe collating the numbers:

Common Scoter: 47 up

Gannet: 171 down

Ringed Plover: 3 down

Dunlin: 10 down

Whimbrel: 1 down

Arctic Skua: 2 down

Kittiwake: 7 down

Sandwich Tern: 488 down
Common Tern: 25 down
Kittiwake: 7 down
Sand Martin: 22 out
Swallow: 5  out

Yet another Scarce Bordered Straw from the MV last night

2 more Jersey tigers last night

 Willow Warblers

 Willow Warblers, Common Whitethroats, Lesser Whitethroats were around the point in good numbers today along with a few Sedge and Reed Warblers, a juvenile Marsh Harrier drifted high out to sea.
The reserve was quiet with few each of Green and Common Sandpipers per MH & CT.

 Hummingbird Hawkmoth in the obs garden

 Bar-headed Goose

At Scotney the massed ranks of 5 species of feral Geese, 4 Common Sandpipers and little else of note. 

 juvenile Yellow-legged Gull at the fishing boats

13.30-17.00 from the fishing boats with AJG:
Common Scoter: 40 up  12 down
Gannet: c100 around
Cormorant: 24 around
Turnstone: 3 down
Arctic Skua: 5 around
Yellow-legged Gull: 2 around both juveniles
Sandwich Tern: 504 down
Common Tern: 8 down
Swift: 3 out
Sand Martin: 153 out
Harbour Porpoise: 6+
Grey Seal: 1

 Sandwich Tern at the fishing boats

Carrying off its tiny catch

4 of the 5 Jersey Tigers in the mv last night. The Great Tit beat me to No.5 leaving me the wings.

As I sorted out the MV this morning the Gulls started alarming, I looked up to see a large raptor heading towards the reserve suspecting it was a Honey Buzzard, by the the time I got my binoculars from the car the bird was a long way off into the sun, so I wrote it off as one that got away.

Arriving at the sea watch hide AJG was already there and informed me that a Honey Buzzard flew straight out to sea about the time my bird would have been crossing the coast!

The rest of the sea watch was very poor with a few Gannets, Sandwich Terns and Kittiwakes.

A walk around the trapping area found just a few Willow Warblers and Common Whitethroats, single Sparrowhawk and a single Great Spotted Woodpecker of note.

A Melodious Warbler was in a private garden first thing and not seen again.

On the reserve Sand Martins were back in good numbers with a few Swifts, the Black Tern was still present, 10+ Dunlin, 4+Common Sandpipers, 3 Black-tailed Godwits, a Wood Sandpiper flew through as did a Peregrine.

15.00-17.00 from the fishing boats:
Common Scoter: 7 up
Fulmar: 2 up    1 down
Gannet: 124 down     47 up
Cormorant: 19 around
Arctic Skua: 4 down
Mediterranean Gull: 3 up all juvs.
Yellow-legged Gull: 2 juveniles around
Kittiwake: 19 up
Sandwich Tern: c100 around
Common Tern: c20 around
Sand Martin: 9 out
Harbour Porpoise: 8+
Grey Seal: 1

 juvenile Yellow-legged Gull

 Harbour Porpoises

 Harbour Porpoise and Sandwich Tern

juvenile Mediterranean Gull

 There were 4 Hummingbird Hawkmoths by the power station perimeter wall early this morning.

As I arrived at the sea watch hide this morning AJG came out having seen very little in the last half hour of his early watch, though 3 Balearic Shearwaters moved west very early morning.

 Juvenile female Peregrine with prey on the power station

There were a few Willow warblers around the Lightouse and a few more were ringed at the observatory after being caught in The Moat. One of the juvenile Peregrines was enjoying a Pigeon for breakfast watched by an adult that sat high on a pylon.

 A walk around the trapping area saw my first Redstart of the Autumn, along with c30 each of Common Whitethroat and Willow Warbler, 4+ Lesser Whitethroats, 4 Reed Warblers and 3 Wheatears that were opposite Jarmans.

Reed Warbler

A Common Sandpiper, 3 Little Ringed Plovers, 2 juvenile Marsh Harriers were the only notable birds among the 100s of wildfowl on the ARC this morning. There was also a noticeable lack of Sand Martins around today.

Juvenile Black Tern, Burrowes.

This evening on Burrowes a juvenile Black Tern was new in, also 4 Common Sandpipers and 11 Dunlin there.

A late evening vigil by Lade South ended without seeing this mornings Night Heron, while waiting 5 Little Egrets around, a pair of Sparrowhawks and Great Spotted Woodpecker of note. 

Many thanks to AJG for collating the numbers from this morning's sea watch from the hide:

06.30-08.00:

Teal: 7 down

Common Scoter: 15 up  24 down

Fulmar: 1 down

Gannet: 126 around

Dunlin: 5 up

Arctic Skua: 1 down

Kittiwake: 124 down  16 up

Sandwich Tern: 237 around

Common Tern: 12 down

 Great White and Little Egrets at Denge Marsh

At the ARC just 3 Little Ringed Plovers, 2 Dunlin, a Ruff and a Black-tailed Godwit of note among the many Greylags, Coot, eclipse duck, Mute Swans and Lapwings.

Over the road on the reserve Burrowes was inevitably quiet due to the on going works, Denge Marsh however was quite interesting with 5 Green Sandpipers, 3 Ruff, 4 Common Snipe, a Dunlin, 5 Great White Egrets, 3+ Little Egrets, a Common Buzzard and 2+Marsh Harriers.
MH covered Denge Marsh Gully seeing just a couple each of Common Whitethroat and Willow Warbler and a Garden Warbler.

 Sandwich tern at the fishing boats

14.15-16.30 from the fishing boats joined by PT:
Common Scoter: 5 up  15 down
Fulmar: 2 down
Manx Shearwater: 1 up
Gannet: 29 up   14 down
Cormorant: 16 around
Oystercatcher: 3 down
Grey Plover: 1 down
Dunlin: 15 down
Whimbrel: 1 down
Great Skua: 1 down
Arctic Skua: 1 down
Little Gull: 1 adult down
Kittiwake: 43 down
Little Tern: 3 down
Sandwich Tern: 421 down    34 up
Common Tern: 21 down
Sand Martin: 1 out
Harbour Porpoise: 6+
Grey Seal: 1

A short evening sea watch from the hide was uneventful:
18.45-19.30
Common Scoter: 6 up
Fulmar: 3 down
Gannet: 16 down        27 up
Oystercatcher: 2 down
Kittiwake: 9 down  3 up
Sandwich Tern: 84 down     43 up

A wander around the Lighthouse area this morning produced no migrants, the trapping area and Desert wasn't much better producing a handful of Willow Warblers and Common Whitethroats.

 A very distant pic of the 2 Spotted Redshanks on Dengemarsh

On the reserve Burrowes was predictably quiet with the work of re-building islands causing inevitable but hopefully worthwhile disturbance. 6 Black-tailed Godwits were in front of Firth and as is now usual 100s of Sand Martins were hawking over the lake. At Denge Marsh of note 2 Spotted Redshanks were new in, 4 Golden Plover, 3 Ruff, a Black-tailed Godwit, a Common Snipe, a Yellow Wagtail, 4 Great White Egrets and 3 Little Egrets. 

  Great White Egret (red AAH) hatched this year at RSPB Ham Walls, Somerset.

Another doomed Herring Gull at the fishing boats today

A very poor sea watch from the fishing boats this afternoon with AJG:
15.00-16.00
Common Scoter: 29 down    11 up
Gannet: 5 down
Cormorant: 8 around
Kittiwake: 11 down
Sandwich Tern: 38 down
Common Tern: 4 down
Sand Martin: 44 out
Harbour Porpoise: 8+

2 Jersey Tigers and Dark Sword-grass were the highlights from another poor night in the MV.