30/05/2023

A late Black-throated Diver

In general the persistent strong cold North East wind has ruined what is usually a good time of year for migrants, as for the breeding passerines I fear for their success due to the complete lack of insects to feed there young. Even the sea watching has been quite poor with just the odd highlights like the 5 Black terns that struggled East this morning.

An unusually early Clouded Yellow along the track to Hanson a couple of days ago

Crowfoot in the smaller ponds

The plus side to the winds is the speed at which the islands are appearing at the ARC, another couple of weeks and there should be plenty for the birds, alas I saw not a single Tern at the ARC or Burrowes today, there was however 100s of Swifts with smaller numbers of Swallow and House Martins hawking over the lakes with 3+ Hobbys in attendance.

Some of the Black-tailed Godwits that have been frequenting the hay fields

Common Buzzard over the garden

 

27/05/2023

Meadow Pipit on the perimeter wall early morning

A reasonably good sea watch considering the continuing force 5 North Easterly blast across the peninsula.

06.30-09.00 with OL & RW

Shelduck: 9E   single flock

Shoveler:13E.  2+2+9

Common Scoter: 17E      

Great-crested Grebe: 3 present

Oystercatcher: 1E

Knot: 8E

Sanderling: 9E

Curlew: 9E  2+2+5

Kittiwake: 54E      

Mediterranean Gull: 16E

Sandwich Tern: 24E    

Common Tern: 92E

Guillemot: 3E 

Fulmar: 3E

Gannet: 65E  

Cormorant: 14E  

Grey Seal: 2

Harbour Porpoise: 6+

Unsurprisingly with the wind blasting across the it, the ARC was quiet, on the plus side the wind and bright skies are evaporating the lake quite rapidly, already several islands are showing.

The other morning a Grass Snake was stalking Marsh frogs in the pools by the track to Hanson Hide

The Southern Marsh Orchids are starting to appear in the field by the track to Hanson

Lovely male Whinchat at Dengemarsh this afternoon with a female and 4 Yellow Wagtails

Female Whinchat

Displaying Yellow Wagtail

Avocets, Greenshank, 4 Grey Plovers, Redshanks and Lapwings on the flood today

Oystercatcher with young on the new islands at Makepiece a couple of days ago, although the young couldn't,t be seen today we think (hope) they have been moved into cover across the channel.

A Red Kite that flew over my house a couple of days ago

 Unsurprisingly in the very strong North Easterly this mornings sea watch was disappointing.

07.00-08.15 with RW

Common Scoter: 11E    14W  

Great-crested Grebe: 2 present

Oystercatcher: 1E

Kittiwake: 6E      

Mediterranean Gull: 2 around

Sandwich Tern: 2E    

Common Tern: 24E

Auk sp: 2E  

Fulmar: 1W

Manx Shearwater: 1E

Gannet: 14E    18W

Swallow: 4 in

Swift: 1 in

Grey Seal: 2

Harbour Porpoise: 5+

Four-spotted Chaser

After the sea watch I went to the ARC, the wind was howling across the track to Hanson but I still managed to hear the Bearded Tits. In the hide the cold wind again howled through the open flaps, the islands that are gradually being exposed held some resting Tufted Ducks and dabblers but no waders yet. The Willow Trail was less exposed allowing 100s of Damselflys to rest on the reeds and boardwalk, also several Four-spotted Chasers. Getting back to the car I received a message from DW that 2 Red Kites were over The Point heading in the general direction of Dengemarsh. I drove down the track to Dennis's Hide which gives a good all round view and quickly spotted the Kites over the Open Pits, they were circling quite high but moving towards me, one of the birds started to lose height over Burrowes and wasn't much more than roof top height as it passed over the VC and Dennis's hide, both birds then melted away to the North West.

Red Kite over Dennis Hide this morning

Greenshank on the flood behind Christmas dell this afternoon

2 Avocet dropped into the flood behind Dengemarsh Hide late afternoon

Common Sandpiper on the small island to the left of Firth. 

Burrowes held 3 Common Sandpipers, 2 Turnstones, 7 Ringed Plovers and 3 Grey Plovers late afternoon.

22/05/2023

This mornings sea watch was unexpectedly rewarding with a small passage of Terns including a White-winged Black Tern, the watch was only terminated by a message that Dave Bunney had a Bee-eater flying around his house unseen, I managed to get there in time to hear it calling a couple of times but no sight. Again this afternoon the sea watch was interesting with a few more Terns including 16 Little Terns which have been in very short supply at Dungeness this year. 

 07.45-09.10 with OL & 14.30-16.00 with RW

Brent Goose: 2E

Common Scoter: 57E      15W

Great-crested Grebe: 9W    3 present

Oystercatcher 2E

Kittiwake: 28W      114E

Black-headed Gull: Present

Mediterranean Gull: 4 present

Common Gull: present

Sandwich Tern: 40E     4W

Little Tern: 16E

Common Tern: 63E

Arctic Tern: 22E

Commic Tern: 242E

White-winged Black Tern: 1E

Guillemot: 2E

Auk sp: 10E     4W

Fulmar: 2W

Gannet: 103E    60W 

Cormorant: present

Grey Seal: 1

Harbour Porpoise: 8+

Brown Argus at the ARC today

Bird wise the ARC was very quiet although JY saw Spotted Flycatcher in the carpark. The reserve was apparently equally quiet with a flock of 5 Greenshanks per JY the highlight.

First Idea ferugalis of the year in the new 40w attinic

Poplar Hawk Moth on the fence beside the trap

21/05/2023

38 Black-tailed Godwits on the flood behind Dengemarsh Hide, a good count for Dungeness

 

Black-tailed Godwits dropping in Saturday evening,  also 3 Avocet and a Whimbrel unsurprisingly they were all gone Sunday morning.

As the strong cool northerlies continue birding around the peninsula is not productive, the Purple Heron showed a couple of times yesterday but I din't believe it has been seen today, Bitterns are still booming, Bearded Tits, Cetti's Sedge and Reed Warblers can all be seen and heard with patience, Lesser Whitethroats seem to out number Common Whitethroats, top to 6 Hobbys have seen, quite low numbers for here. A single drake Garganey has been frequenting the hay fields but very elusive, also a Cattle Egret has returned. On Burrowes 3 Common Sandpipers and the odd Turnstone. The ARC has been disappointing but it looks as though this dry windy weather will reveal islands in the next couple of weeks, highlight there for me were a pair of Bearded Tits by Hanson Hide.

Several Swifts have been hawking over the reserve the last few days

Nice to see the Herring Gulls have their own security cameras😆

18/05/2023

Todays sea watch highlight 2 drake Eider

 08.00-09.00 with RW

Eider: 2E both drakes

Common Scoter: 53E

Great-crested Grebe: 3 present

Oystercatcher: 1E     1W

Kittiwake: 4E

Sandwich Tern: 12E

Common Tern: c15 feeding c1 mile off shore

Auk sp: 1E

Gannet: 18E   

Cormorant: 11 present

Peregrine: 1 in off the sea

Grey Seal: 1

Harbour Porpoise: 6+

Todays Purple Heron was definitely not a showy bird

Apart from the Purple Heron, a Greenshank flew over Dengemarsh, an adult Cattle Egret was on the Boulderwall Fields, a Garganey was still on the Hay Fields and a few Swifts were seen but little else of note. Yesterdays Black-winged Stilts departed over night and have probably relocated to Worth Marshes.

17/05/2023

Meadow Pipit on the perimeter wall behind the sea watch hide

Thankfully this dire sea watch was cut short by a message from Owen about the 4 Black-winged Stilts he'd just found on the hay fields

 07.45-08.30 

Common Scoter: 4E        25 still on sea

Great-crested Grebe: 4 present

Kittiwake: 3E

Common Tern: 24E

Red-throated Diver: 1 on sea

Gannet: 6E   

Swallow: 4 in

Grey Seal: 2

Harbour Porpoise: 8+

The lovely Black-winged Stilts

An afternoon visit to Rye harbour with the Wednesday Club was a an excellent treat. Thanks to Owen for a definitely not boring Madeira Cake.

It was a treat to see the islands full of nesting Common Terns, Black-headed Gulls Oystercatchers and Avocets, with a few Redshanks, Common Gulls, Mediterranean Gulls and just a couple of pairs of Herring Gulls. The noise from the breeding birds brought back memories of what Dungeness used to sound like this time of year, sadly no longer.

The raft may have seen better days, but the Black-headed Gulls don't care as they have somewhere safe to rear their young.

Confiding Common Tern

At least 6 Turnstones in summer dress were present on the pools

A confiding Redshank

2 of 4 Greenshank feeding around the pools

Fist summer Little Gull frequenting the pools.

A Greater White-fronted Goose seems to be paired up with a Greylag

16/05/2023

Adult male Black redstart on the perimeter wall behind the sea watch hide early morning

An unremarkable sea watch this morning:

07.00-08.30 with RW & OL

Common Scoter: 14E        25 on sea

Great-crested Grebe: 2 present

Kittiwake: 5E

Sandwich Tern:   c15 feeding 

Common Tern: c20 feeding

Arctic Skua: 1E

Red-throated Diver: 1E

Gannet: 87E     12W

Swallow: 2 in

Black Redstart: 1 male on wall behind hide

Grey Seal: 3

Harbour Porpoise: 11+

A bubbling female Cuckoo at the ARC this morning

3 visits to the reserve today saw of note 5 Black-tailed Godwits, a Whimbrel, a Dunlin, 3 Ringed Plover, a Turnstone, a Common Sandpiper, 3 Cuckoos, 4 Hobbys and a booming Bittern, along with the resident species.