26/09/2024

A day of strong winds and very squally showers, but disappointing sea watching.

A smart juvenile Common Gull at the fishing boats this morning

As you can see the islands are fast submerging on the ARC, also on Burrowes especially those from Dennis's Hide, at least we still have the viewpoints which are wonderfully useless in weather like today, which we will now have for next 6 months. I dare say all those people the RSPB claim to prefer viewpoints over hides will be queuing to get on them.

The Glossy Ibis was shining at the ARC when the sun came out

3 gorgeous female Pintail at the ARC this morning

Great White Egret at Cooks

Sanderling at the fishing boats this afternoon

Sand Martins leaving our shores at the fishing boats this afternoon

25/09/2024 Balearic Shearwaters!

Heavy rain was threatened for this morning but never materialised, just a light showers.

07.40-09.30 from the Hide:
Common Scoter: 9E      
Sandwich Tern: 132W   37E       
Kittiwake: 1W
Black-headed Gull: 223W
Mediterranean Gull: 31W
Common Gull: 8W
Herring Gull: present n/c
Great Black-backed Gull: present n/c
Lesser Black-backed Gull: 2W
Arctic Skua: 5W     2E
Guillemot: 1E
Auk sp: 3E     1W
Balearic Shearwater: 33W     1E
Gannet: 607E       102W    
Cormorant: Present n/c
Swallow: 144E
Harbour Porpoise: 6
Grey Seal: 1

Some of todays Balearic Shearwaters

Balearic Shearwaters

Caspian Gull that hasn't quite yet moulted into 1w plumage

Caspian Gull that is still retaining most of its juvenile plumage

A visit to to the ARC from Hanson was disappointing avian wise, but very disappointing to see the rate that the islands are disappearing, if the weather forecast for the next 2 days is correct then I believe most of the islands will be covered, also probably the same on Burrowes especially those to eh left of and front of Dennis's Hide.😢

14.00-15.30 from the Boats:

Arctic Tern: 1W

Common Tern: 9W

Sandwich Tern: 176W   32E       

Black-headed Gull: 72W

Mediterranean Gull: 48W

Common Gull: 30W

Herring Gull: present n/c

Great Black-backed Gull: present n/c

Lesser Black-backed Gull: 3W

Arctic Skua: 6W     1E

Gannet: 83W       21E   

Cormorant: 7W    2E

Swallow: 17 out

Juvenile Arctic Tern past the fishing boats this afternoon

A pair of 1w Mediterranean Gulls at the fishing boats

I'd just retuned home for a cup of tea late afternoon when Stephen Message found a Slavonian and Black-necked Grebe on Scotney from the double bends, so I jumped on my electric bike and was there in a few minutes, the birds as usual on Scotney were at the back of the main lake and rather distant but OK in the scope.

24/09/2024 Chiffchaffs!

First thing this morning The ARC car park bushes and Willow Trail were positively jumping with Chiffchaffs, Around the peninsula there must have been 1,000s of them. From Hanson the Glossy Ibis was joined by 2 Cattle Egrets, several Common Snipe, a Common Sandpiper and the usual wildfowl.

Great-spotted Woodpecker at the ARC

Wheatear at Scotney

As I cycled past Scotney to the Sandpit there were Chiffchaffs in every bush, the Scotney copse was full of them, lovely to see and hear so many of them. 

There were 8 Ruff on the causeway at Scotney

The bushes on the track up to the Sandpit were alive with Chiffchaffs. In the pit  3 Green and 2 Common Sandpipers, 4 Avocets and a Greenshank, in the surrounding fields c500 Golden plover.

Common Sandpiper in the Sandpit

These 3 Greenshanks on Burrowes this afternoon with Great White Egret and many House Martins, also of course plenty of calling Chiffchaffs.

27/09/2024

Absolutely mind blowing the number of Hirundines leaving our shores in such a short space of time yesterday morning

07.45-10.15 from the boats with SG, TW,JY

Brent Goose: 2E       34W   Another 48W this PM 

Wigeon: 13W

Teal: 5W

Common Scoter: 8E

Oystercatcher: 3E     2W     

Sandwich Tern: 47W          

Common Tern: 10W

Black-headed Gull: present n/c

Mediterranean Gull: 4 present

Herring Gull: present n/c

Great Black-backed Gull: present n/c

Lesser Black-backed Gull:  present n/c

Arctic Skua: 1W

Balearic Shearwater: 1W

Gannet: 51W    

Cormorant: Present n/c

Sparrowhawk: 1 in off

Swallow: 126,000 out

Sand Martin: 500 out

House Martin: 84,000 out

Meadow Pipit:1,000 out

Harbour Porpoise: 4

Grey Seal: 1

Tuna: 1

If watching 200,000 Hirundines wasn't enough to make a great day at Dungeness birding, a text from Dave Bunney saying come quickly I've got a Bonelli's Warbler in the garden. Needless to say less than 5 minutes later the fishing boats had been vacated and we were looking into Davids garden, thankfully before we had even seen the bird its identity as a Western Bonelli's rather than Eastern was confirmed by its call. I then spent several hours taking way too many images of the bird but thoroughly enjoying myself. To cap it all Sheila gave us one her lovely Ice Creams! Definitely recommended.

Western Bonelli's Warbler

About to catch a fly

Spotted Redshank

Spotted Redshank

Little Grebe from Hanson

Glossy Ibis still at the ARC

2 of the Balearic Shearwaters that passed the fishing boats this morning

The new Mirror outside Boulderwall Farm House

With the installation of the mirror pulling out of the ARC car park onto Dungeness Road is much safer now you can see if the road is clear. 

20/09/2024

This mornings sea watch was so abysmal I didn't bother going to the fishing boats this afternoon. Apparently I made the right choice as Richard went to the boats and saw just a couple of Brent Geese.

No waders on the ARC today, though the water levels are rising fast, the only notable was the Glossy Ibis.

As the NE wind was still roaring across the peninsular today there was scant coverage but I doubt there was much to see.

One of at least six Caspian Gulls seen on Burrowes today

Norwegian ringed GBB Gull J16EY

Glossy Ibis incoming at the ARC

Pintails on the ARC

 A few moths form the last couple of days

Clany's Rustic

Delicate

Palpita Vitrealis

19/09/2024

As you can see below the sea watching is still abysmal, probably due to the roaring NE winds blowing across the peninsular. The winds are also responsible for the lack of passerines apart from Hirundines that are still streaming through.

The sandpit has had a clear out of waders, now just a few Avocets and 2 each of Green and Common Sandpiper, The water levels on the ARC are still rising from the recent deluges now seeping through into the lake. This afternoon all I could find there was a Common Sandpiper and a few Lapwing. The track into the ARC car park was resurfaced today and is now nice and smooth.

The works on Christmas Dell/New Excavions has finished, the new islands look good, but time will tell if the Terns and Black-headed Gulls nest there, also the on going maintenance of the islands could be an issue due to lack of staff. The digger is now starting work on Denge Marsh creating 3 islands which will no doubt have the same maintenance issues, also I believe some rafts are to be deployed on Denge Marsh.

The weather at the weekend is shaping up to be quite good for birding.🤞

07.35-08.35 from the hide with RW, OL

Brent Goose: 2E

Wigeon: 2E

Common Scoter: 7 on sea

Dunlin: 3E      

Sandwich Tern: 38E           

Common Tern: 6E

Black-headed Gull: present n/c

Mediterranean Gull: 2E

Herring Gull: present n/c

Great Black-backed Gull: present n/c

Lesser Black-backed Gull:  present n/c

Arctic Skua: 1E

Gannet: 22E      

Cormorant: Present n/c

Swallow: 362SE

Sand Martin: 13SE

House Martin: 7SE

Meadow Pipit: 4NE

Harbour Porpoise: c6

Grey Seal: 1

Yellow Wagtails at Boulderwall today

Cattle Egrets at Boulderwall today

Green Woodpecker at the ARC

1st calendar year Caspian Gull at the fishing boats yesterday

16/09/2024

This mornings sea watch with OL 07.20-09.00 

Mallard: 1E

Teal: 9W

Wigeon: 8W

Common Scoter: 3E

Sandwich Tern: c40 around

Common Tern: c10 around

Black-headed Gull: present n/c

Herring Gull: present n/c

Great Black-backed Gull: present n/c

Lesser Black-backed Gull:  present n/c

Arctic Skua: c10 around

Balearic Shearwater: 4E          13W

Gannet: 17W

Cormorant: present n/c

Harbour Porpoise: c20 

Todays highlight a Grasshopper Warbler this morning courtesy of Dungeness Bird Observatory

A wander around The Desert saw and heard plenty of Chiffchaffs and a few Blackcaps, 9 Stonechats, 2 Ravens but little else of note.

A visit to the ARC saw 4 Cattle Egrets, a Glossy Ibis and a Little Ringed Plover as the only notable species. 

90 minutes early afternoon at the fishing boats was very pleasant in the warm sunshine out of the wind, but birds were very few and far between.

A late afternoon visit to Dennis's after the American Golden Plover had been reported found only 2 Golden Plovers, 2 Dunlin among the Lapwings and Gulls also 2 Black Terns present.

Sandwich Tern at the fishing boats

Common Tern at the fishing boats