28/10/2021

Sooty Shearwater taken into the low early morning sun

2 sea watches today with Ct and AJG who kindly kept the log:

07.40-09.40 & 13.20-15.20 from the fishing boats:

Brent Goose: 1W

Tufted Duck: 2W

Common Scoter: 1W

Red-throated Diver: 8W    2 on

Great-crested Grebe: 4W   3 on

Sooty Shearwater: 1W

Gannet: 564W

Cormorant: 182W into Rye Bay

Kittiwake: 130W

Black-headed Gull: present n/c

Mediterranean Gull: 166W

Common Gull: present n/c

Great Black-backed Gull: present n/c

Herring Gull: present n/c

Sandwich Tern: 26W

Great Skua: 1W

Arctic Skua: 1W

Guillemot: 79W

Razorbill: 564W

Auk sp: 546W

Swallow: 23 out to sea

Starling: 765 in

Goldfinch: 25 W

Harbour Porpoise: 2

A5UX a regular at the fishing boats

Clearing weed from the Dengemarsh sewer

A walk around the hayfields saw a couple[le of Stonechats, a Great White Egret and heard a few Bearded Tits in the reed beds, on the hay fields a single Lapwing and 10 Meadow Pipits, very disappointing.

From Scott viewpoint the regular Lapwing and Golden Plover flock could be seen on the islands from Makepiece, but without shelter the wind made it impossible to scrutinise them properly. 

1st calendar year Caspian Gull on Burrowes late afternoon

From Dennis's Hide late afternoon a 1st cal year Caspian Gull was the only notable sighting.

At least 4 Cattle Egrets were present at Boulderwall but I didn't see the Glossy Ibis, though they are probably still present. The poor autumn continues.

A Beautiful Plume the only moth in the trap today, time to put the trap away for the winter

26/10/2021

Some of the 80+ Goldfinches coming to my garden feeders

Due to the dreadful dearth of birds at Dungeness this autumn I am finding it increasingly difficult to force myself out of bed in the mornings, consequently in was 09.00 before I managed to get to the beach this morning just as AJG was going back home for breakfast. His sea watch totals below.

07.00-09.00

Common Scoter: 8W

Gannet: 966W

Cormorant: present n/c

Kittiwake: 31W

Black-headed Gull: present n/c

Great Black-backed Gull: present n/c

Herring Gull: present n/c

Great Skua: 1W

Auk sp 112W

Peregrine: 1in off the sea

Merlin: 3 hunting over the sea

I walked down to The patch where the highlight was just 4 Mediterranean Gulls among the many Black-headed and Herring Gulls, no sign of any Black redstarts there today. A wander out into the trapping area was no better with 2 Brambling and 3 Siskin over unseen, 2 Song Thrush were flushed from the path and just a single Chiffchaff was heard, truly abysmal for late October.

On the reserve still at least 12 Cattle Egrets and 2 Glossy Ibis plus the usual Great White Egrets, a single adult Yellow-legged Gull in the roost by the entrance track. On Burrowes at least 12 Grey Plover among the Lapwings and Golden Plover, though todays highlight was the drake Goldeneye, which shows just how poor the birding is around Dungeness at the moment.

Drake Goldeneye on Burrowes this afternoon

 

22/10/2021

Arctic Tern feeding in front the power station

This mornings sea watch from the hide and The Patch

08.00-10.30

Gadwall: 3W

Common Scoter: 2W   1E

Red-throated Diver: 1W   1E   2 on

Great-crested Grebe: 5 around

Gannet: 14W

Cormorant: 159W

Kittiwake: 4W

Black-headed Gull: c500 around

Mediteranean Gull: c50 around

Common Gull: c100

Herring Gull: c500 around

Great Black-backed Gull: 62W   

Lesser Black-backed Gull: 6 around

Sandwich Tern: 14W

Arctic Tern: 1 around

Great Skua: 1W

Arctic Skua: 5W   2 around c50 around

Meadow Pipit: c20W

Goldfinch: c60W

Arctic Tern feeding in front the power station

Arctic Tern feeding in front the power station

On the reserve still at least 8 Cattle Egrets along with the usual Great and Little Egrets, the 2 Glossy Ibis are still around , today they did a mega high circuit of the Peninsular enabling me to add them to my garden list. On Burrowes apart from Lapwing and Golden Plover I didn't see another wader, large numbers of Greylags were on the islands and seem ed to have displaced the Wigeon and Pintail, I was also unable to locate the Garganey that was present yesterday. A walk around the hay fields this afternoons saw the usual Egrets but not the hoped for Water Pipits and waders even though the fields look very good for them. Several parties of Bearded Tits were either seen or heard in the surrounding ditches and reed beds.

Scotney held all the usual feral geese, also c1,000 Lapwing and c500 Golden Plover  but little else of note. 

The 2 Glossy Ibis now on the garden list albeit rather distant

A Garganey on Burrowes yesterday afternoon

 Marsh Harrier with orange wing tags marked SX which I photographed late yesterday afternoon. She was ringed and tagged on 05/07/2021 as a chick at Carlton Marshes, Suffolk and this is the first time she has been seen since being tagged. Many thanks to Phil Littler of NWNRG for sending me her details so promptly.
 

With todays stormy weather the only option was to spend most of my time at the fishing boats sea watching, which fortunately was fairly rewarding.

Arctic Tern

7.30-10.30 thanks to all for help with numbers AJG, RW, DW, PE, CG, RB

Common Scoter: 6W

Red-throated Diver: 1W  1 on

Great-crested Grebe: 12W     5 on

Gannet: 1,112W

Cormorant: present n/c

Turnstone: 5 around

Curlew: 1W

Kittiwake: 201W

Black-headed Gull: present n/c

Little Gull: 13W

Mediterranean Gull: 2W

Common Gull: present n/c

Great Black-backed Gull: present n/c

Herring Gull: present n/c

Lesser black-backed Gull: present n/c

Sandwich Tern: 173W

Arctic Tern: 1W

Great Skua: 1W

Arctic Skua: 12W      1 around pale headed bird

Guillemot: 18W

Razorbill: 105W

Auk sp: 143W        36E

Merlin: 1 in

Peregrine: 1 in

Rock Pipit: 1 in

Linnet: 142 over

Goldfinch: 435 over

Grey Seal: 1

Harbour Porpoise: 4+

Arctic Skua

13.30-16.00 with RW & OL

Red-throated Diver: 1W

Gannet: 204W

Kittiwake: 66W

Little Gull: 18W

Sandwich tern: 221W

Arctic Tern: 3W

Arctic Skua: 6W

Guillemot: 13W

Razorbill: 30W

Auk sp: 74W

Swallow: 1 out

The Little Gulls today were somewhat distant

The 16 cattle Egrets with Plodland in the background

18/10/2021

Red-throated Diver in the morning glare at the fishing boats

07.45-10.00 with AJG & DW

Red-throated Diver: 4W    2 around

Great-crested grebe: 4 around

Gannet: 287W   43E

Cormorant: 92 around

Kittiwake: 148W

Mediterranean Gull: 37W        18 around

Sandwich Tern: 32 around

Arctic Skua: 4 around

Guillemot: 19W   7 around

Razorbill: 93W     4 around

Auk: 70W

Merlin: 4 around

Swallow: 3 out

Starling: 950 in

Goldfinch: 75W

Harbour porpoise: 2

Grey Seal: 1

Gannet

0ne of at least 4 Arctic Skuas around today

Posing Glossy Ibis

Cattle Egret after the Ibises Marsh Frog

The Ibises and Cattle egrets can give superb views along the entrance track to the reserve if you stay in your car.

On Burrowes the Golden Plover flock was still roosting on the islands today. Late afternoon 2 1w Caspian gulls were present and an adult Yellow-legged Gull.

At Least 13 Cattle Egrets present today per DW

14.15-15.15 from the fishing boats:

Red-throated Diver: 1W       1 on

Gannet: 43W

Kittiwake: 19W

Mediterranean Gull: 6 around

Sandwich Tern: 61W

Guillemot: 2W

Razorbill: 1W

Auk sp: 7w

Sandwich Tern that repeatedly dived after a piece of Polystyrene

1w Caspian Gull from Dennis's Hide late afternoon

17/10/2021

 As the bushes around the peninsula are bird free zones this autumn, it's little wonder I spent most of my time at the fishing boats staring out to sea or in Dennis's Hide staring at Gulls legs.

Apart from a handful of Brambling and Siskin that flew over the bushes NW I saw nothing in the time I spent looking at the top end of the Long Pits, OL spent 2 hrs flogging the TA, Desert and Long Pits with the same result.

These 2 Eider were probably the highlight of the day

2 Sea watches today with RW, AJG and DW 

07.30-11.00 & 14.00-15.00

Eider 2W

Common Scoter: 3W

Red-throated Diver: 9W

Gannet: 859W    273E

Cormorant: 94W    30E

Oystercatcher: 1W

Black-tailed Godwit: 1W

Kittiwake: 1,882W

Mediterranean Gull: 15W     2E

Caspian Gull: 1 around

Sandwich Tern: 137W      14E

Great Skua: 1W

Arctic Skua: 6W

Guillemot: 60W   13E

Razorbill: 38W

Auk sp: 36W   45E

Swallow: 2 out

Chaffinch 5 in

Grey Seal: 1 

Harbour Porpoise: 2

1w Caspian Gull at the fishing boats

On the reserve The Egrets and Ibis still present among with the Golden Plover flock and a few more Wigeon and Pintail.

Border Force intercepting a migrant RIB c 2 miles offshore yesterday afternoon, containing 40+ people, including women and children all seemingly without life vests, a tragedy waiting to happen.