Caspian Gulls!

Sandwich Tern this morning

An hours sea watch this morning from the fishing boats was some what underwhelming, with a single Sandwich Tern and a few each of Gannets, Kittiwakes and Mediterranean Gulls, 10 Common Scoter flew west and Guillemots were offshore.

I walked the beach area around the new lighthouse to the research station then back to the sea containers in the hope of finding a Wheatear sp or a Bunting, needless to say I drew a blank on both counts. Checking the gull roost at the boats I came across V0WT Herring Gull a regular bird here.

 V0WT a Dungeness resident

 Around the sea containers a fly catching Black Redstart

As I walked towards the lifeboat station I spotted a 1w Caspian Gull bearing a Polish yellow ring. While photographing the Gull a Swallow flew out to sea.

After the Polish bird flew inland, another 1w bird with a distinctive bill came to the beach briefly before flying strongly out to sea.

 This bird made only a brief visit to the beach, 

2w Great Black-backed Gull JC782 is another regular on the beach here enjoying stranded Sea Mice

A lunch time walk to The Patch then on to the Diamond and back, in another failed quest for a rare Wheatear or Bunting I find 2 more Black Redstarts and another Swallow. 

This afternoon another hour at the fishing boats in the hope that the Tern sp seen at Greatstone might come past, if it did we missed it! also saw little else other than c150 Kittiwakes.

Late afternoon on the reserve 4 more Caspian Gulls came into roost 3 x 1w and lovely adult bird, also 6 Yellow-legged Gulls, 3 x adults, 2 x 3w and a 2w.

Earlier in the day 2 Spoonbills and 7 Cattle egrets were on the reserve, also the usual Great White Egrets. 

A very Quiet Day!

Another very mild day of southerlies and sunny spells. I joined JTM in walk around the area, apart from a few Song Thrushes, Goldfinches and Goldcrests very little was seen, JTM could hear some Firecrests which I'm afraid I am no longer able to hear unless they are very close.

On the reserve of note 6 Cattle Egrets by Cooks Pool, 9+ Great White Egrets scattered around Burrowes and a Goldeneye. In the small Great Black-backed Gull roost a couple more Norwegian rung birds. 

Some of the c400 Kittiwakes off the fishing boats this afternoon 

A short sea watch early afternoon saw c400 Kittiwakes loafing offshore with 3 Mediterranean Gulls, 2 Sandwich Terns feeding and 6 Great-crested Grebes, absolutely no passage of birds offshore this afternoon.

Great White Egret from Hanson this afternoon

From Hanson a Great White Egret strutting in front the hide, also a Water Rail and several Goldcrests in the Sallows. On the islands c100 Lapwing and a Black-tailed Godwit among the usual wildfowl.

Late afternoon from Makepiece 3 adult and 3w Yellow-legged Gull came into roost, as did a 1w Caspian Gull. 

In the MV over the last 2 nights just 3 Xylostella's and Silver Y, probably time to pack it away till next spring. 

White Billed Diver!

Today I joined MH & CT for what is a rare outing from Dungeness for me to Margate, to see the brilliant adult summer plumaged White Billed Diver found by Scott on Friday.

A short video of the Diver

Lesser Yellowlegs!

Lesser Yellowlegs

The best part of today was spent at The Midrips looking for the Lesser Yellowlegs seen there yesterday. I arrived just after dawn finding OL, SO & CT already on site. In the couple of hours spent trying to find the bird 28 Redshanks, 5 Dunlin, 2 Grey Plover, 21 Brent Geese, 5 Shelduck, a Barn Owl and Common Buzzard were seen, thinking that the bird had departed we left site but not before I met Graham Parry who decided to carry on looking  after we left. I was just tucking into my full English fry up when Graham called to say he had located the bird in the same spot it was filmed at yesterday. I made some calls to locals and bolted my breakfast and arrived on site a few minutes later to see the bird exactly where we had all been looking. Apparently GP saw it appear from behind an island further out where it had presumably been feeding in the lee of the wind, thanks are due to Graham for his tenacity as it appears that the bird flew strongly out to sea late this afternoon.

There seems to a problem with my camera as all the images appear fuzzy!

A short video of the Lesser Yellowlegs (best watched full screen)

Another scarce bird these days Red-legged Partridges in the fields opposite The Midrips 

 German ringed Caspian Gull at the fishing boats yesterday afternoon

 2w Caspian Gull at the fishing boats this afternoon

1w Caspian gull at the fishing boats this afternoon

 Adult Yellow-legged Gull this afternoon

 JC782 Great Black-backed Gull a regular at Dungeness

Twite!

As it was a lovely sunny, frosty and still morning on the peninsular, I gave the morning sea watch a miss and joined OL in a walk around The Desert and Trapping area. A few each of Song Thrushes, Blackbirds, Greenfinches, Siskins and Redpolls were seen and heard, also a Redwing, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers and a Woodcock was flushed.

As it was such a beautiful still day I decided to wander out the back of Scotney to the wind farm to hopefully stumble across a Rough-legged Buzzard. Things didn't start to well when I failed to see the usually reliable Little Owl at the farm, but improved when I found a flock of 17 Ruff on the the back lake, not quite so welcome was a flock of 48 Egyptian Geese there. The fields held good numbers of Skylarks, but I failed to find any Tree Sparrows or Corn Buntings, 6 Common Buzzards were in a kettle at the wind farm and 4 different Marsh Harriers were seen, a couple of Great Tits gave away the location of a Barn Owl buried deep in a Sallow which I would probably have walked past had they not alerted me to its presence. Scanning around Walland Marsh a pair of marauding Peregrines put up all the waders, Lapwings and Golden Plover were everywhere I estimated conservatively 2,000+ of each, 9 Curlew and 2 Redshank flew over, all the usual feral Geese were present. As I came back through the farm I heard a familiar call which took me a few seconds to realise was Twite, having heard and seen them practically on a daily basis back in the summer in Mongolia. They were on the roof of the farm house, then on the overhead wires, then on the driveway behind a gate, they flew off and returned on at least 3 occasions so hopefully will be around for a  while. A Black Redstart was also around the farm.    

 A well hidden Barn Owl at Scotney

Twite at Scotney, much rarer than the Rough-legged Buzzard I was hoping for.

Twite at Scotney

Twite at Scotney

 Black Redstart at Scotney

 Some of the 1,000s of Golden Plovers at Scotney

Distant image of a Short-eared Owl at Galloways late afternoon

Late afternoon a Short-eared Owl was hunting at Galloways and 2 Dartford Warblers were also seen, thanks to a call from BH.

November Gloom!

A thoroughly wet and miserable morning on the peninsular, with very little improvement in the afternoon.
A not unexpectedly poor sea watch in the shelter of the fishing boats with the highlight being a Ring- tail Hen Harrier coming in.
07.20-10.10 from the fishing boats with NF, DW et al:
Common Scoter: 2W
Red-breasted Merganser: 2W
Red-throated Diver: 1E   2W    1 on
Great-crested Grebe: 11 around
Gannet: 37W    16E
Hen Harrier: 1 in
Merlin: 1 around
Turnstone: 2 around
Dunlin: 4E   2W
Little Gull: 3W
Kittiwake: 32W    11E
Mediterranean Gull: 17E    4W
Guillemot: 2E
Auk sp: 12E    9W
Starling: 520 in
Late morning on Burrowes in the now very heavy rain nothing of note was seen, though the 6 Cattle Egrets were still present on Dengemarsh per MH.
This afternoon another poor sea watch but at least it had stopped raining.
13.30-15.00 from the fishing boats with AJG, CT, OL
Red-throated Diver:  2 on
Great-crested Grebe: 6 around
Gannet: 22W
Little Gull: 2W
Kittiwake: c120 around
Mediterranean Gull: 4E
Sandwich Tern: 17W
Guillemot: 2W
Razorbill: 1 on
Auk sp: 3E
Starling: 4 in
Late afternoon on Burrowes from Makepiece DW picked out a 1w Caspian Gull in the gloom and 8 Great White Egrets and 2 Little Egrets were in front of Scott Hide.

Rough-legged Buzzard!

Cold NW 5-7 with drizzle made for a somewhat slow watch. A drake Tufted Duck was quite unusual, also a Merlin c1mile off shore eventually caught a Finch/Pipit and returning to the beach with its prize.
07.00-09.00 from the fishing boats with AJG,OL,DS, CT
Brent Goose: 8E
Shelduck: 9E
Teal: 1E
Wigeon: 4E
Tufted Duck: 1W
Common Scoter: 2E
Red-throated Diver: 5E    1W    1on
Great-crested Grebe: 5+ around
Gannet: 176E
Cormorant: 320 flushed by range boat
Merlin: 1 around
Turnstone: 1 around
Dunlin: 15E
Mediterranean Gull: 4E
Kittiwake: 7E
Little Gull: 3E
Sandwich Tern: 9E
Guillemot: 6E
Razorbill: 1 around
Auk sp: 17E
Blackbird: 1 being chased by Merlin was eventually drowned by Great Black-backed Gull.
Harbour Porpoise: 2 around
A quick look at Boulderwall Fields as the rain set in saw at least 4 Cattle Egrets around the cattle.
As I was preparing to come back out, I received a call from Colin Turley telling me that a Rough-legged Buzzard was heading my way, I grabbed my binoculars and dashed outside, a quick scan enabled me to pick out the the bird being pursued by several Crows and watched them all disappear behind the Hookers Pit bushes. I quickly set my scope thinking I would see them come out the other side but they never reappeared. Colin was sure it had landed out in the fields but despite an extensive search by several locals it was not seen again until late afternoon, when it quickly disappeared again, so maybe it will show up again tomorrow. At least it is now on my garden list just.

1w Caspian Gull

 Back at the fishing boats this afternoon the sea was even quieter than this morning with very little off shore movement. A 1w Caspian Gull and an adult Yellow-legged Gull were the undoubted highlight.

 1w Caspian Gull

Adult Yellow-legged Gull

Sea Watching!

Some people consider sea watching every day a waste of time and effort, all to frequently I would agree with them, but sometimes the effort and tedium is proved to be worth while, this mornings watch was by no means a classic, there was a nice selection of birds passing, the icing on the cake being a ringtail Hen Harrier leaving our shores, sadly now a very scarce bird at Dungeness, this one being the first I have seen here this year.
06.30-10.00 from the fishing boats with AJG who collated the numbers & DS, OL, DW, JTM et al.
Brent Goose: 121E    46W
Shelduck: 33E
Teal: 20E
Wigeon: 36E   14W
Pintail: 1W
Common Scoter: 30E    6W
Velvet Scoter: 5E     7W
Long-tailed Duck: 1E
Red-breasted Merganser: 1E
Red-throated Diver: 12E    1 on
Great-crested Grebe: 59E
Gannet: 171E      6W
Hen Harrier: 1 Ringtail out
Peregrine: 1 around
Sparrowhawk: 1 in
Lapwing: 1E
Dunlin: 30E
Knot: 1E
Sanderling: 1E
Curlew: 1E
Skua sp: 1
Mediterranean Gull: 38E   277 in
Kittiwake: 3E   c30 in
Little Gull: 3E
Sandwich Tern: 15E
Guillemot: 2E
Auk sp: 1E
Skylark: 1 in
Starling: 730 in
Goldfinch: 70 over
Harbour Porpoise: 1

1 of the 100s of Mediterranean Gulls seen from the fishing boats today

A very slow and at times tedious afternoon watch, but we did manage the highest count of Little Gulls at Dungeness so far this Autumn.
13.00-15.30 from the fishing boats with NF, AJG, JTM & MH
Brent Goose: 5E    24W
Common Scoter: 2E
Great-crested Grebe: 6 around
Gannet: c25 around
Dunlin: 4E
Curlew: 2W
Mediterranean Gull: 72E    11W
Kittiwake: c30 around
Little Gull: 14E
Sandwich Tern: 3E
Razorbill: 1E
Guillemot: 3E
Auk sp: 3E
Starling35 in
Harbour Porpoise: 2+
Late afternoon on the reserve very few Gulls coming into roost, highlight being an adult Yellow-legged Gull, 2 Knot and 4 Dunlin.