Colour Rings!

 A walk around The Desert and trapping area with AJG this morning found very few migrants, just a few each of Chiffchaffs, Blackcap and Common Whitethroats and a few Swallows over. Hopefully the birding will improve in the next few days.
This afternoons sea watch was not very inspiring.
13.20-14.20 from the fishing boats with Peter and AJG who collated the numbers:
Fulmar: 1E
Shearwater sp: 1E (Manx or Balearic)
Gannet: 48E
Arctic Skua: 1 around
Mediterranean Gull: 1W
Sandwich Tern: 220W
Common Tern: 41W
Black Tern: 3W
Guillemot: 2E
Harbour Porpoise: 4+
This evening from Firth hide good numbers of Greater and Lesser Black-backed Gulls came in to roost, including at least 7 colour ringed individuals which kept me entertained.

 Norwegian ringed Lesser Black-backed Gull J557R

 Landguard area ringed Lesser Black-backed Gull BXB.P

NTRG Lesser Black-backed Gull W0UT

Norwegian Great Black-backed Gull ringed as a chick on 09.07 2019 at SANDØY, Mandal, Vest-Agder, 57°58'03"N 007°33'39"E 891 Kilometers from Dungeness.

 Norwegian Great Black-backed Gull ringed as a chick on 10.07 2018 at Revøy, Farsund, Vest-Agder, Norway 58°02'57"N 006°47'45"E and not seen again until today.

 Danish ringed juvenile Great Black-backed Gull JZP58, unfortunately this bird is not yet registered on their web site.

 2 cal year Great Black-backed Gull ringed as a chick on 01.07 2018 at Håpoldenden, Askøy, Hordaland, Norway 60°33'21"N 004°57'44"E. I saw this bird twice in August and again today but there are no other reports

 A frustrating third summer Yellow-legged Gull sporting a yellow ring but refused to come out of the water for me to read and photograph it.

2 Cattle Egrets on the ARC from a couple of days ago

 Great Spotted Woodpecker from the trapping area

 Another poor day migrant wise on the peninsular, very small numbers of Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs,  Blackcaps, Common and Lesser Whitethroats, as far as I know no Flycatchers were seen and I still have not seen a Common Redstart this autumn. I did mange to see the Wryneck today, but the view I had was abysmal.

 1 of 3 Wheatear on the beach

 Little Tern past the fishing boats this afternoon

 Little Tern past the fishing boats this afternoon

13.00-16.30 from the fishing boats with AJG, JTM & OL.
Common Scoter: 4E
Great-crested grebe: 1 around
Gannet: 7E.   46W
Cormorant: 23 around
Turnstone: 3 around
Arctic Skua: 2W   2 around
Kittiwake: 1 juvenile around
Black Tern: 8W    3 around
Little Tern: 4W
Sandwich Tern: 253W
Common Tern: 204W
Sand Martin: 12 out
Swallow: 2 out
Pied Wagtail: 2 around
Wheatear: 3 around
Common Seal: 1
Grey Seal: 2

Harbour Porpoise: 6+ 

 Black Terns were ever present at the fishing boats this afternoon

Juvenile Kittiwake at the fishing boats

Purple Bar a common moth but a scarce visitor to my trap

This evening from Firth Hide nothing of note emphasising how poor the birding is at the moment. At the ARC also nothing of note as Sparrowhawk had cleared the islands just before I arrived 

Terns!

 Cetti's Warbler trapped in The Moat this morning

 Pied Flycatcher from the trapping area this morning

Another relatively quiet morning at The Point, small numbers of Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs, Common Whitethroats, Lesser Whitethroats, Blackcaps and Garden Warblers seen and trapped, 2 Whinchats, up to 4 Black Redstarts and 3 Wheatears around the Polish War Memorial, also a Brown Hare. On the reserve the Wryneck and Red-backed Shrike were still present but very elusive and not seen by me.

Last Thursday I and AJG met Renaud Flammant at Copt Point, Folkestone to read some Mediterranean Gull rings, it was a successful trip reading 50+ rings from c2,250 Mediterranean Gulls present, today I went back to read some more rings, unbelievably not a single Gull present on the rocks and just a few loafing on the sea, a complete waste of time, though there were a few Sylvia warblers in the scrub.

 1 of up to 4 Black Redstarts around the Polish war memorial this morning

Good numbers of Small Coppers this morning on the shingle

Black Tern at the fishing boats this afternoon

13:30-16:00 from the fishing boats with JH, JTM, CT, Linda and AJG for collating the numbers:
Gannet: 34W
Cormorant: Present n/c
Bar-tailed Godwit: 16W
Arctic Skua: 2W
Little Gull: 2W both juveniles
Little Tern: 2W
Black Tern: 26W
Sandwich Tern: 364W
Common Tern: 103W
Arctic Tern: 1W
Swallow: 2 out
Grey Seal: 1
Common Seal: 1
Harbour Porpoise: 3+

 Black Tern at the fishing boats this afternoon

 Black Tern at the fishing boats this afternoon

 Black Tern at the fishing boats this afternoon

 Black Tern at the fishing boats this afternoon

 Black Tern at the fishing boats this afternoon

 Black Tern at the fishing boats this afternoon

 Black Tern at the fishing boats this afternoon

                                       Black Tern at the fishing boats this afternoon

 Common Tern at the fishing boats this afternoon

  Common Tern at the fishing boats this afternoon

  Common Tern at the fishing boats this afternoon

  Common Tern at the fishing boats this afternoon

06:00-08:00  from the sea watch hide per AJG.

Mallard: 1W

Great-crested Grebe: 1W

Manx Shearwater: 3E

Gannet: 188W

Cormorant: present: n/c

Pomarine Skua: 1E @06:55(Interestingly a Pomarine Skua flew South past Cap Gris Nez 3hrs later)

Arctic Skua: 1E  3W

Kittiwake: 4W

Mediterranean Gull: 8W all 1st cal year

Yellow legged Gull: 1W 1st cal year

Sandwich Tern: 486W

Common Tern: 11W

 Stonechat

Around the station West Beach, Lloyds and the lighthouse several each of Stonechats, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Common Whitethroat, a Blackcap, 2 Black Redstarts, a Whinchat, 2 Wheatears and a large flock of a 100+ Linnets. An Osprey went high out to sea around 07.00 which I almost everyone else missed.

 Chiffchaff

 Willow Warbler

 The trapping area area was similar to The Point with the addition of 3+ Spotted Flycatchers and more of each species.

Lesser Whitethroat

13.30-15.15 from the fishing boats with AJG, JTM, RW & OL.

Common Scoter: 2E

Gannet: 5E   20W

Cormorant: 5 around

Turnstone: 17 around

Knot: 4W

Arctic Skua: 2 around

Kittiwake: 4W

Sandwich Tern: 223W

Common Tern: 26W

Black Tern: 1E

Grey Seal: 1

Harbour porpoise: 6+

Poor image of a juvenile Curlew Sandpiper from Hanson this evening

This evening on the ARC of note were a juvenile Curlew Sandpiper, 4 Ruff, a Greenshank, 6 Dunlin, 2 Common Sandpipers, 148 Golden Plovers, 3 Black Terns, 6+ Garganey, 2 Great White Egrets, Water Rail and the usual wildfowl. As the sun dipped below the horizon a mixed flock of c200 Swallows, House and Sand Martin appeared over the lake, they hawked over the lake for a few minutes then spiralled high up into the dusk sky and disappeared.

06:00-07:30 from the sea watch hide per AJG
Mallard: 1W
Tufted Duck: 2W
Gannet: 81W
Arctic Skua: 1W
Mediterranean Gull: 5W
Kittiwake: 2W
Sandwich Tern: 108W
Common Tern: 1W
Sand Martin: 3 out
After a poor sea watch the land was no better, a final net round at 08:00 produced just a single re-trap Robin, a Pied Flycatcher was seen in the trapping area at first light.
At the ARC of note were 3 Black Terns, a Wood Sandpiper, a Common Sandpiper, a Greenshank, 4 Ruff and 4+ Garganey.
The first Wryneck of the autumn was found on the reserve early afternoon which I managed to get a distant view of, certainly not photographic range. It was well found by a regular lady visitor whom I must apologise too for forgetting her name.

 Arctic Skua at the fishing boats

 13.34-15.45 from the fishing boats with RW, JTM, SO and AJG who collated the numbers:
Common Scoter: 3W
Gannet: 83W
Cormorant: present n/c
Knot: 30W
Arctic Skua: 1W
Mediterranean Gull: 1W
Kittiwake: 8W
Sandwich Tern 214 down
Common Tern: 22W
Black Tern: 2W
Guillemot: 1W
Swallow:13 out
House Martin: 1 out
Sand Martin: 46 out
Grey Seal: 1
Harbour Porpoise: 3+

 Black Tern at the fishing boats

 A Mackerel snack

Small Mottled Willow the highlight of this mornings catch

06.00-08.00 from the sea watch hide per AJG:

Common Scoter: 1W

Fulmar: 2W

Gannet: 189W

Arctic Skua: 1W  

Mediterranean Gull: 11W

Kittiwake: 11W

Sandwich Tern: 188W

Common Tern: 2W

Swallow: 5 out 

The Point was once again very quiet avian wise this morning, with very little apparent migration.

At the ARC of note 2 Black Terns, a Little Gull, a Wood Sandpiper, 2 Common Sandpipers, 3 Greenshank, 4 Ruff, a Knot, a Turnstone, 3 Common Snipe, 8 Garganey and a Great White Egret.

 Arctic Skua at the fishing boats

13.15-15.00 from the fishing boats with JTM, AJG & OL.
Gannet: 32W
Cormorant: 17 around
Turnstone: 1 around
Arctic Skua: 4W
Kittiwake: 7W
Sandwich Tern; 59W
Common Tern: 2W
Sand Martin: 8 out
Harbour Porpoise: 10+
Grey Seal: 1

 Arctic Skua chasing a Sandwich Tern

Juvenile Sandwich Tern

Pied Flycatchers in the Rain!

 Whinchat

This morning I did a net round with Jacques and trapped just a single Blackcap, with so few birds around and rain in the forecast we furled the nets. On the way back a Tree Pipit was posing nicely on some Gorse, but I didn't have my camera with me. Once we got back to the observatory I collected my camera and went back for the Tree Pipit needless to say there was no sign of it, so I took some pictures of a couple of Whinchats that were in the High Gorse, while doing this 100s of Swallows and Martins appeared though mainly stratospheric as the rain front approached. The rain was not heavy but as soon as it started Pied Flycatchers started to appear, I saw at least 9 possibly 12 as they seemed to pop out all around, also a Spotted Flycatcher appeared, OL saw 3 Spotted flycatchers, once the rain stopped the Flycatchers seemed to melt away. Around the are there were also 4 Black Redstarts, 2 Wheatears, the usual Willow Warblers, Common and Lesser Whitethroats and a few Yellow Wagtails over, also a hunting male Marsh Harrier. There 2 more Pied Flycatchers in The Moat that I didn't see per DW also a Common Redstart per PB. I've still not seen one this autumn.     

 Pied Flycatcher

  Pied Flycatcher

  Pied Flycatcher

 Spotted Flycatcher

An hour this afternoon sea watching with RW at the fishing boats was abysmal, c40 Sandwich Terns and c40 Gannets tooing & froing offshore, 6 Common Terns flew West, 2 Mediterranean gulls went East, a single Kittiwake loitered offshore, and a single each of Grey Seal and Harbour Porpoise.

 Great White Egret & Little Egret from Hanson 

Late afternoon from Hanson there were 100s of mainly Sand Martins hawking over the lake in the drizzle, 4 Ruff, 5 Common Snipe, 7 Garganey, 2 Great White Egrets and a flock of 9 Greenshank flew through.

This evening a Cattle Egret was in the cow field at Boulderwall Farm, while on Burrowes a single Common Sandpiper, 6 Great White Egrets and 5 Danish and Norwegian rung Great Black-backed Gulls.