The first of the Poms!

On my way to the beach 2 Cuckoo's and 2 Marsh Harriers flew over the causeway, a Great White Egret and 2 Little Egrets were at the south end of the ARC.
0630-12.00. AJG,RW,OL,DW,SM,JTM et al
Brent Goose: 154 up
Eider: 4 up
Common Scoter: 520 up    18 down
Red-breasted Merganser: 1 up
Red-throated Diver: 9 up.    3 down
Black-throated Diver: 2 up
Great-crested Grebe:  4 around
Fulmar:5 up   3 down
Manx Shearwater: 2 up.    1 down (possibly same bird)
Gannet: 96 up
Cormorant: present n/c
Oystercatcher: 85 up
Whimbrel: 117 up
Common Snipe: 1 up
Great Skua: 14 up + 5 before I arrived
Pomarine Skua: 5 up
Arctic Skua: 18 up  + 15 before I arrived
Black-headed Gull: present n/c
Mediterranean Gull: 2 up
Herring Gull: present n/c
Great Black-backed Gull present n/c
Little Gull: 32 up
Kittiwake: 14 up
Sandwich Tern: 368 up
Common/Arctic Tern: 45 up
Arctic Tern: 5 up
Little Tern: 6 up
Guillemot: 9 around
Auk sp: 14 up
Swallow: 2 in
Crow: 11 out/up
Harbour Porpoise:8+

The Wryneck that was found at the Long Pits this morning was very elusive while I was there.

The first 3 Garganey of the year on the reserve were found today by RW, also the first Hobby per DB, though generally common migrants were quite scarce today around the peninsular. 

Whimbrel flying the wrong way at the fishing boats this afternoon

This afternoon at the fishing boats15.30-18.00 with AS:
Common Scoter: 27 up
Red-throated Diver: 16 up
Great-crested Grebe: 3 around
Fulmar: 2 up

Manx Shearwater: 1 up   1 down
Gannet: 29 up
Cormorant: present n/c
Whimbrel: 53 up
Great Skua: 9 up

Pomarine Skua: 2 up  (1 @ 16.14, 1 @ 17.01)
Arctic Skua: 6 up
Black-headed Gull: present n/c
Herring Gull: present n/c
Great Black-backed Gull present n/c
Kittiwake: 8 up
Sandwich Tern: c25 around
Common/Arctic Tern: 12 up
Guillemot: 9 around
Auk sp: 31 up

House Martin: 1 in . my first of the year

Swallow: 10 in
Harbour Porpoise: 5+ around

There were at least another 5 Great Skuas, 6 Arctic Skuas and a Velvet Scoter between 13.00-15.30 per AJG.

Lesser Whitethroat from yesterday

07.00-09.00 & 13.45-16.45 AJG,RW,SO et al:

Brent Goose: 6 up

Shoveler: 2 up

Common Scoter: 55 up

Red-breasted Merganser: 16 up

Red-throated Diver: 9 up.  1 down

Great-crested Grebe: 8 around

Fulmar: 12 up.  1 down

Manx Shearwater: 4 up

Gannet: 262 up

Cormorant: present n/c

Oystercatcher: 27 up

Curlew: 2 up 

Whimbrel: 126 up

Bar-tailed Godwit: 1 up

Great Skua: 13 up

Arctic Skua: 11 up

Black-headed Gull: present n/c

Herring Gull: present n/c

Great Black-backed Gull present n/c

Little Gull: 20 up

Kittiwake: 22 up

Sandwich Tern: 188 up

Common/Arctic Tern: 329 up
Little Tern: 2 up

Guillemot: 17 around:

Auk sp: 4 up

Swallow: 6 in

Crow: 4 down

Harbour Porpoise: c20 around

 Sandwich Tern at The fishing boats this afternoon

A late morning sky watch from the garden produced a distant Red Kite, a Marsh Harrier, 2 Common Buzzards, a Sparrowhawk, a Kestrel, several Skylarks singing over the fields and the first 2 Yellow Wagtails of the year in the field. There is still a distinct lack of Hirundines around. 

At Dengemarsh this evening 2 Cuckoo's were the highlight while failing to find yesterdays Cattle Egret that was reported as still being present this afternoon.

Red Kites!

 Red Kites over The Point

06.26-08.25 & 13.00-17.00                                           
Brent Goose: 31 up
Shelduck: 5 up
Tufted Duck: 2 down
Eider: 4 up
Common Scoter: 128 up                                 
Red-throated Diver: 13 up   3 down                   
Great-crested Grebe: 12 around
Fulmar: 4 up    3 down                     
Manx Shearwater: 3 down
Gannet: 155 up                                                   
Cormorant: present n/c
Oystercatcher: 80 up                                       
Whimbrel: 5 up
Great Skua:   5 up                                             
Arctic Skua: 4 up                                               
Black-headed Gull: present n/c
Mediterranean Gull: 4 up                                         
Herring Gull: present n/c
Great Black-backed Gull present n/c
Little Gull: 32 up
Kittiwake: 7 up               
Sandwich Tern: 88 up                                     
Common/Arctic Tern: 8 up
Arctic Tern:                                                       
Guillemot:   29 around                                   
Auk sp:      4 up
Swallow: 1 in
Linnet: 7 in
Harbour Porpoise: 40+ around
In the trapping area 6+ Lesser Whitethroats, several each of Common Whitethroat, Blackcap and Willow Warbler also a Nightingale there.

Some of the 17 Red Kites that were over The Point this morning

Reports of Red Kites at Lydd and Scotney had us scanning from the top of The Moat where we managed to locate 5 distantly around the water tower at the ARC. As MH had found a Cattle Egret at Dengemarsh I decided to drive round to see it, as drove along the the estate road I looked out to see and saw a number of Red Kites just off shore, pulling over quickly more Kites appeared until there were 17 together over The Point being joined by a Common Buzzard and Sparrowhawk.

When I got to Dengemarsh I joined KP at Springfield Bridge where we saw the Cattle Egret seemingly fly off towards Scotney, apparently it did return later.

Not My Day!

I started off missing all 4 Continenal Coal Tits, while looking for them I missed the only Black-throated Diver of the day, I then missed a Red Kite that had all the Gulls going ballistic but it was on the other side of the power station to me, I missed the 3 Hawfinches that dropped into the reserve briefly, I missed the Goshawk that was circling around the Water Tower then I missed the 18 Manx Shearwaters that feeding of the fishing boats this afternoon because I was at the sea watch hide. On the plus side I did record my highest ever count of Harbour Porpoises, a brilliant 57, OL looked round into Lade Bay and found a magnificent 88!

Newly arrived Wheatear behind the sea watch hide

07.30-08.00, 09.25-13.30, 15.00-17.00 from the sea watch hide with OL,MH & SG
Brent Goose: 1 up
Shelduck: 2 up
Gadwall: 1 up
Common Scoter: 184 up
Red-breasted Merganser: 3 up
Red-throated Diver: 10 up. 1 down
Black-throated Diver: 1 up per OL
Great-crested Grebe: 14 around
Fulmar: 1 down
Manx Shearwater: 18 feeding off the fishing boats per MH & SG
Gannet: 47 up
Cormorant: present n/c
Marsh Harrier: 3 in    1 per MH & SG
Oystercatcher: 1 up
Whimbrel: 64 up.
Great Skua: 2 up
Arctic Skua: 12 up
Black-headed Gull: present n/c
Mediterranean Gull: 1 up
Herring Gull: present n/c
Great Black-backed Gull present n/c
Little Gull: 116 up  All beween 15.10-16.20
Kittiwake: 17 up
Sandwich Tern: 271 up
Common/Arctic Tern: 169 up
Arctic Tern: 32 up
Auk sp: 2 up
House Martin: 1 in
Wheatear: 1 behind hide
Harbour Porpoise: 57+ around

Serin!

A quick stop in the dark at the southern end of the ARC on the way to the sea watch hide heard a Cuckoo, Cetti's Warblers, Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs but not the hoped for Nightingale.
05.30-08.30 with CP from the sea watch hide                               
Brent Goose: 21 up
Shelduck: 20 up  2 down
Eider: 1 down
Common Scoter: 288 up                         
Red-breasted Merganser: 1 up
Red-throated Diver: 12 up                           
Great-crested Grebe: 11 around
Fulmar: 4 up
Gannet: 136 up                                           
Cormorant: present n/c
Peregrine: 1 around
Oystercatcher: 5 up  4 down                         
Whimbrel: 1 up                                             
Knot: 1 up
Great Skua: 3 up                                             
Arctic Skua: 8 up                                             
Black-headed Gull: present n/c
Mediterranean Gull:                                         
Herring Gull: present n/c
Great Black-backed Gull present n/c
Little Gull: 2 up                                               
Kittiwake: 3 up
Sandwich Tern: 679 up                                   
Common Tern: 185 up                                     
Little Tern: 3 up                                                 
Auk sp:
Swallow: 1 in
Crow: 1 in
Harbour Porpoise: 20+
AS I walked back to the car from the hide a Serin flew over and spent a couple of minutes flying around The Point before departing.
The rest of the morning was taken up with domestic stuff.
14.00-17.00 at the fishing boats basking in the glorious sunshine with very few birds passing but lots of chat and laughter in the company of SG,MH,OL & PT.
Red-throated Diver: 2 up
Gannet: 16 up
Oystercatcher: 22 up
Whimbrel: 14 up
Great Skua: 2 up
Arctic Skua: 2 up
Mediterranean Gull: 2 up
Little Gull: 2 up
Sandwich Tern: 85 up
Common Tern: 13 up
Little Tern: 2 up
Harbour Porpoise: 20+

Wheatear at The Midrips

At The Midrips this evening 18 Avocets, 7 Whimbrel, 54 Shelduck and 2 Wheatears were the highlights.

Excellent Sea Watch!

Some of the 15 Eider past The Point today

Another excellent days sea watching being joined at various times through the day by CB,DW,JTM,SM,BB, SG, MH et al
Brent Goose: 168 up
Shelduck: 2 up
Shoveler: 2 up
Teal: 2 up
Garganey: 4 up
Eider: 15 up
Common Scoter: 711 up
Velvet Scoter: 8 up
Red-breasted Merganser: 7 up
Red-throated Diver: 80 up
Black-throated diver: 4 up
Great-crested Grebe: 32 around
Fulmar:19 up.  3 down
Manx Shearwater: 11 up   27 down
Gannet: 229 up
Cormorant: present n/c
Merlin: 1 up/in
Oystercatcher: 5 up
Grey Plover: 2 up
Sanderling: 1up
Dunlin: 1 up
Whimbrel: 141 up
Bar-tailed Godwit: 65 up
Great Skua: 82 up
Arctic Skua: 28 up
Black-headed Gull: present n/c
Mediterranean Gull:
Common Gull: present n/c
Herring Gull: present n/c
Great Black-backed Gull present n/c
Little Gull: 125 up
Kittiwake: 33 up  18 down
Sandwich Tern: 891 up
Common/Commic Tern: 831
Arctic Tern: 62 up
Guillemot: 3 up
Auk sp: 42 up     17 down
Swallow: 4 in
Harbour Porpoise: 8+
Dolphin sp: 4+ 
From the various reports I received today it would appear that there was very little new on the land today.

Eider past the sea watch hide

06.30-10.00 & 12.45-17.00 from the sea watch hide:                                               
Brent Goose: 75 up
Shelduck: 2 down
Eider: 5 up
Common Scoter: 537 up                                   
Red-breasted Merganser: 1 up
Red-throated Diver: 44 up.  1 down                 
Great-crested Grebe: 10 around
Fulmar: 7 up    2 down                                       
Manx Shearwater: 1 up
Gannet: 274up                                               
Cormorant: present n/c
Oystercatcher: 6 up
Great Skua: 22up                                               
Arctic Skua: 8 up                                                 
Black-headed Gull: present n/c
Mediterranean Gull: 5 up
Common Gull: present n/c
Herring Gull: present n/c
Lesser Black-backed Gull: present n/c
Great Black-backed Gull present n/c
Little Gull: 9 up                                               
Kittiwake: 23 up       5 down
Sandwich Tern: 151 up                                         
Common Tern: 36 up                                           
Guillemot: 1 on
Auk sp: 9 up                                                       
Swallow: 6 in                                                       
Crow: 9 in
Linnet 11 in
Harbour Porpoise: c20 around
A walk around Scotney late morning saw 2 Yellow Wagtails by the farm, the usual Little Owl, the Mallard still sitting on its nest on the hay bales, 4 Corn Buntings, 5 Avocets on the back lakes but very little else.
On the peninsular still only small numbers of the common migrants.

All at Sea!

ZA5Z & X2NT at the fishing boats this afternoon

When I woke at 05.30 the peninsular was again shrouded in fog, so I had a lay in till 07.00 to find the fog all gone, and message from OL saying the sea passage was good.
07.45-11.00, 14.00-17.00, 18.30-19.30
These totals are my own sightings , for full days totals click on DBO Web Site
Brent Goose: 1,020 up
Shelduck: 11 up
Shoveler: 1 up
Eider: 2 up
Common Scoter: 3,216 up
Red-breasted Merganser: 16 up
Red-throated Diver: 101 up   2 down
Black-throated Diver: 3 up
Great-crested Grebe: 14 around
Fulmar: 4 up  1 down
Gannet: 419 up
Cormorant: 19 up
Peregrine: 1 around
Oystercatcher: 5 up
Whimbrel: 1 up
Avocet: 2 down
Great Skua: 4 up
Arctic Skua: 30 up
Black-headed Gull: present n/c
Mediterranean Gull: 1 up
Common Gull: present n/c
Herring Gull: present n/c
Great Black-backed Gull present n/c
Little Gull: 70 up
Kittiwake: 72 up
Sandwich Tern: 179 up
Common Tern: 93 up
Guillemot: 9 up
Auk sp: 39 up
Swallow: 3 out  1 in
Harbour Porpoise: 10+
Talking to locals it appears that there was very little new on the peninsula today.

Fog lifts at last briefly!

 Harbour Porpoises

Another morning waking up to find the Peninsular cloaked in fog, at least it did clear today for a couple of hours this afternoon before rolling back in.

14.00-16.30 from the fishing boats with LH,PH,RW,DW,JTM & GH.
Brent Goose: 80 up
Shoveler: 1 up
Common Scoter: 205 up
Red-breasted Merganser: 2 up
Red-throated Diver: 31 up   1 on    1 down
Great Northern Diver: 1 on
Fulmar: 1 up     1 down
Gannet: 39 up      11 down
Oystercatcher: 34 up
Curlew: 1 up
Great Skua: 2 up
Arctic Skua: 3 up
Mediterranean Gull: 1 up
Kittiwake: 2 up
Sandwich Tern: 68 up   19 down
Common Tern: 14 up
Guillemot: 2 on
Harbour Porpoise: 15 +

Highlights of the last couple of days have been few and far between due to the peninsular being constantly shrouded in fog, which also made sea watching impossible, a Short-eared Owl was a welcome though brief sight, a Spoonbill that graced Dengemarsh for a couple hours and a very few common migrants in the bushes. 7+ Bramblings at the feeding station in the trapping area and few Firecrests and Black Redstarts around the lighthouse.

Short-toed Treecreeper!

07.15-08.30 when the fog rolled in with OL & DS
Brent Goose: 44 up
Greylag Goose: 2 out
Shelduck: 1 up
Shoveler: 5 up
Garganey: 2 up
Common Scoter: 317 up
Red-breasted Merganser:  26 up
Red-throated Diver: 8 up.  1 on
Great-crested Grebe: 5 around
Fulmar: 8 up
Manx Shearwater: 1 up
Gannet: 84 up
Cormorant: present n/c
Oystercatcher: 6 up
Whimbrel: 1 up
Dunlin: 12 up
Arctic Skua: 1 up
Black-headed Gull: present n/c
Mediterranean Gull: 2 up
Common Gull: present n/c
Herring Gull: present n/c
Lesser Black-backed Gull: present n/c
Great Black-backed Gull present n/c
Kittiwake: 4 up
Sandwich Tern: 48 up
Common Tern: 11 up
Guillemot: 1 on
Auk sp: 3 up
Carrion Crow: 1 in

Blackcap in the lighthouse garden 

After abandoning the sea watch I went to The Patch, I had just got myself settled in the hide scrutinising the few Gulls that were roosting there, when Mark H called on the radio saying he had seen a Treecreeper sp briefly in the lighthouse garden.
Arriving on site shortly after, I then with DW, OL and JTM spent the next 8 hrs there seeing the bird 5 times for a total of less than 20 seconds (DW spent another 2 hrs after I left). The bird was calling fairly frequently and seemed to be a Short-toed Treecreeper, but we wanted to get better views and images of the bird. The bird was still present at dusk.

 Short-toed Treecreeper

 Also in the lighthouse garden 2 Firecrests, several Chiffchaffs, 2+ Black Redstarts, Song Thrush and a Blackcap, a Rock Pipit and several Redpolls and Siskins flew over, also a Peregrine and Marsh Harrier over.

 Firecrest

Great White Egret at the southern end of the ARC also an Avocet there