Still dreaming of a Dungeness Hawfinch!

Today being mostly tied up with domestic stuff, I had time to look at my digital photographic library. I came across many images of Hawfinch that I took in West Sussex 2004 & 2009, some good and some definitely in the record shot category. Looking at these images made me feel better about the Hawfinch eruption bypassing Dungeness. I still hope one will pose for me on the peninsular but somehow I doubt it. Most of the images below were taken with the aid of a flash gun which I no longer use.

 Hawfinch I photographed in West Sussex in March 2009 

Grey Phalarope and a Yellow-browed Warbler!

07.15-09.15 from the sea watch hide with AJG who kindly collated the numbers: 

Brent Goose:17 down

Shelduck: 4 down

Teal: 86 down

Gadwall: 2 down

Pintail: 7 down

Wigeon: 127 down

Common Scoter: 25 down   36 up

Red-breasted Merganser: 4 down

Red throated Diver: 1 up

Great-crested Grebe: 8 down

Gannet: 92 down

Great Skua: 1 down

Kittiwake: 47 down

Sandwich Tern: 1 up

Guillemot: 16 up

Razorbill: 4 up

Auk sp: 104 down   32 up

Starling: 5,930 down

 Woodcock about to be released by Owen

At the observatory Owen caught a Woodcock in the Heligoland Trap, I arrived in time to watch it being released.

 Woodcock on it's way

At the ARC the usual Great white Egrets, Marsh Harriers, squealing Water Rail and wildfowl on show from Hanson but no sign of the Dotterel in the short time I was there, though it was reported on the Boulderwall fields.

At Scotney from the double bends 10 Redshank, 3 Ruff, c50 Golden Plover, c300 Wigeon and the usual feral Geese.  

On the Dengemarsh fields c200 each of Golden Plover and Lapwing but little else of note around there.

 Great White Egret from Hanson

An unusual sea watch this afternoon from the fishing boats where a Grey Phalarope was showing well for a couple of hours, a very late Black Tern flew west, then news of a Yellow-browed Warbler found by Dave Bunney in his garden cut short the sea watch. The Yellow-browed Warbler was very active and highly mobile around the garden not allowing me to even press the shutter let alone get good images, many thanks to Dave for letting us know about and view the bird.

14.00-15.20:
Brent Goose: 4 down
Teal: 3 down
Wigeon: 25 down
Common Scoter: 7 down
Red-breasted Merganser: 4 down
Red-throated diver: 1 down
Great-crested grebe: 3 around
Gannet: c150 around
Grey Phalarope: 1 around
Mediterranean Gull: c10 around
Yellow-legged Gull: 2 around
Kittiwake: c25 around
Sandwich Tern: 9 down
Black Tern: 1 down
Guillemot: 2 around
Auk sp: 4 down

 Grey Phalarope at the fishing boats this afternoon

Woodcock!

 The Colour ringed Bearded Tit seen at the ARC from Hanson on Saturday 4th November was ringed at Radipole, Weymouth on 25th July this year. Many thanks to Stephen Hales for the ringing information. 

 Woodcock over The Desert

This mornings walk around The Point, Desert and Trapping Area was again fairly quiet and again a Hawfinch free zone. However my first Woodcock of the year which jumped up from under my feet and quickly disappeared into the trapping area was a bonus, several Redpolls and Reed Buntings flew over and 3 Song Thrushes flushed from the Broome. In the bushes a single Chiffchaff and 10+ Goldcrests.  

 Woodcock over The Desert

Common Buzzard over Lade Desert

By the track to the pines from the ARC car park a large Tit flock with a minimum of 36 Long-tailed Tits and 6 more Goldcrests. As the weather was so nice I decided to continue out into the Lade Desert and out to the Gorse, a Common Buzzard wheeled overhead, 2 Marsh Harriers were over the airport reed bed and 3 Great White Egrets could be seen flying over Lade South, but despite searching all the areas of Gorse and Broome all I could find were a Robin, 2 Dunnocks and 2 Wrens, a long walk over the pebbles for little reward.

 Little Owl at Scotney

Late morning I parked at Scotney and walked around the back of the farm to Jury's Gap and back. The Little Owl was in its usual spot surveying the farm yard as I walked through, on the back eastern lake a Green Sandpiper and Redshank, c400 Greylag Geese and a party of 32 Egyptian Geese were in a nearby field. By the path a few Goldfinch, Linnets and Reed Buntings fed in the few remaining weedy patches but no Corn Buntings on this route, a Clouded Yellow was nice to see, it looks like the fields that held all the breeding Yellow wagtails have been turned over to Sheep grazing. A couple each of Common Buzzards and Marsh harriers were seen also a Peregrine and Merlin. On my return back past the western lakes a large flock of c500 Golden Plover dropped onto one of the islands, after several minutes of scanning I picked out the Dotterel that has been on the ARC recently. By the time I got back to my car and drove to the beach the flock flushed and the Dotterel made its way back to the ARC much to the relief of RW.

The sea was very quiet this afternoon with a few Common Scoter and Kittiwakes, the highlight being a drake Eider which flew up into Lade bay.  

 Goldfinch at Scotney

 Common Buzzard at Scotney

Common Buzzard at Scotney

Late afternoon at the ARC from Hanson in the company of RW & CT, the Dotterel was on it's own on one of the islands at the back, though flew off West as dark approached. We observed a minimum of 17 Great White Egrets dropping into the roost, we probably missed some, as we could not see the ones that would come in from Burrowes direction from our viewing point in Hanson hide. 

Dartford Warblers!

The sea was very quiet this morning, with a few Gannets, Sandwich Terns and Auks, 3 Red-throated Divers and a Black-throated Diver per AJG.

The highlight of a wander around the trapping area and Desert was a party of 5 Bullfinch (very scarce at Dungeness), around The Point 3 Dartford Warblers and a late Swallow.

I was lucky enough to be able to spend an hour photographing the Dartford Warblers in superb light and on my own. It seems that there are at least 6 Dartford Warblers on the peninsular per RW.

 Dartford Warbler in full song this morning

 Collecting Straw

Coming into land

Dartford Warblers

1w Caspian Gull

At the fishing boats this afternoon a 1w Caspian Gull made a brief and distant appearance, snubbing the Gull boys offerings.

Colour Ringed Birds!

 Red-throated Diver past the fishing boats

A very slow and short sea watch this morning, a single Red-throated Diver down channel and c150 Gannets feeding off shore were the highlights.

Colour ringed Bearded Tit from Hanson possibly part of Dorset project

 Colour ringed Bearded Tit from Hanson

 Colour ringed Bearded Tit from Hanson

No sign of the Dotterel at the ARC this morning, though there were not many Golden Plovers there. A pair of Bearded Tits one of which was colour ringed showed well in front of Hanson hide, as did a Kingfisher briefly though in appalling light and a Great White Egret. On the islands 2 Grey Plovers, 4 Dunlin & 6 Common Snipe, while around the lake a Bittern gave a couple of brief flight views, several Marsh Harriers, more Egrets, a Black-necked Grebe and the usual wildfowl. 

 Great white Egret from Hanson

Kingfisher from Hanson taken in dark dreary conditions

Juvenile Gannet over the beach

13.00-14.45 from the fishing boats thanks to AJG for collating the numbers:

Tufted Duck: 1 up

Common Scoter: 2 up

Red-throated Diver: 2 up

Gannet: 359 down

Kittiwake: 311 down

Sandwich Tern: 8 down

Razorbill: 15 down, 4 up

Guillemot: 10 down

Auk sp: 13 down   12 up

Sub adult Slovakian ringed Caspian Gull

As I drove onto the the beach the Gull boys had already pinned down this lovely sub adult Caspian Gull which brightened up an otherwise dull afternoon, another 1w Caspian Gull was on the beach. 

 Sub adult Slovakian ringed Caspian Gull

 Sub adult Slovakian ringed Caspian Gull

 Sub adult Slovakian ringed Caspian Gull

Sub adult Slovakian ringed Caspian Gull 

07.00-08.00 from the sea watch hide many thanks to AJG for collating the numbers:
Brent Goose: 58 down
Shelduck: 6 down
Red-throated Diver: 2 up
Common Scoter: 3 up
Gannet: 153 down
Peregrine: 1 in with prey
Great Skua: 4 up   1 down
Mediterranean gull: 1 down
Razorbill 4 up
Auk sp: 51 up   2 down
Starling: c750 in
The rest of the morning was spent around The Point seeing very little, a few each of Redpoll, Siskin, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Reed Bunting and Skylarks over, a few Goldcrests in the bushes, also there are still at least 2 Dartford Warblers around.

 Dotterel at the ARC from Hanson

From Hanson the Dotterel still present with c400 Golden Plover, 28 Black-tailed Godwits, 3 Ruff, a Grey Plover, 2 Dunlin, 6 Common Snipe, a Black-necked Grebe and the usual Egrets, Marsh Harriers and wildfowl.

On the reserve 2 Continental Coal Tits in the scrub at Denge Marsh per LH & PH.

Dotterel at the ARC from Hanson

14.05-16.15 from the fishing boats with AJG,LH, PH, MH, CP et al

Brent Goose 1 down

Mallard: 1 down

Common Scoter: 6 up

Red throated Diver 3 down

Great-crested Grebe: 5 around

Gannet 267down

Oystercatcher: 1 down

Turnstone: 1 around

Great Skua: 3 down

Arctic Skua: 1 down

Mediterranean Gull: 19 down

Little Gull: 2 down

Kittiwake: 653 down

Sandwich Tern: 14 down

Guillemot 3 on

Razorbill 9 on

Auk sp up 4 

Starling: 15 in

Harbour Porpoise: 4 

Dotterel!

 1 of several Small Coppers seen around The Point today

A beautiful morning at The Point, unfortunately very few birds to be seen. The highlights of today's walk around was undoubtedly the Short-eared Owl that came in off the sea to a warm welcome from the Gulls, thanks are due to Dave Bunney for the call. Also seen a handful each of Lesser Redpolls and Siskins over and a few Small Copper butterflys. The Dartford Warblers were still present this afternoon but eluded me this morning. Very few birds made it into the nets but a smart Firecrest was nice. 

 Firecrest at the observatory

A late morning visit to Scotney saw an Avocet, 7 Ruff, 6 Redshank, a Marsh Harrier a Little Owl, a distant Barn Owl and the usual feral Geese and wildfowl.

 Distant image of todays Dotterel with Golden Plover

A message about a Dotterel at the ARC cut short my visit to Scotney, the Dotterel showed well among c200 Golden Plover giving excellent scope views but poor photographic opportunities, also there 30+ Black-tailed Godwits, the usual wildfowl, squealing Water Rail and calling Cetti's Warblers. The warm weather encouraged several Common Darters and Migrant Hawkers to fly. 

 Black-tailed Godwits over the ARC

 1 of several Common Darters at the ARC

 4 of a party of 6 Goosander that flew west this afternoon

14.35-15.35 from the fishing boats:
Brent Goose: 1 down
Shoveler: 1 down
Goosander: 6 down
Great-crested Grebe: 5 around
Gannet: c40 around
Oystercatcher: 32 down
Turnstone: 1 around
Great Skua: 2 up
Arctic Skua: 1 down
Mediterranean Gull: 1 around
Kittiwake: c300 around
Guillemot: 9 on sea
Razorbill: 3 on sea
Auk sp: 6 up
Harbour Porpoise: 3+

This evening 16 Great White Egrets, 1 Cattle Egret and 18 Little Egrets came into the ARC roost, also c5,000 Starlings roosting there attracting the attention of a Peregrine.

Lyonetia prunifoliella not quite as rare as first thought but a first for Dungeness.