08/07/2024

An unsurprisingly mediocre sea watch this morning.

08.10-09.10 from the hide with RW & OL

Common Scoter: 1E

Oystercatcher: 4W

Kittiwake: 2E

Black-headed Gull:c30 present

Mediterranean Gull: 1E  3W

Herring Gull: present

Great Black-backed Gull: c10 present

Sandwich Tern: 7W     c10 present

Common Tern: 1W

Fulmar: 1W

Manx Shearwater: 1E

Gannet: 19W     17E

A bit of good news for a change, the first Avocet chick has hatched at the ARC this morning. It is the first Avocet chick I have seen on the Dungeness Reserve.

Common and Sandwich tern dropping into the ARC to bathe

Juvenile Sandwich Tern with its parent

A Little tern that flew through yesterday

3 adult Cattle Egrets that dropped into the ARC this afternoon

Eclipse drake Garganey this evening at the ARC

One of the 1,000s of Swifts that came through the peninsular at the weekend, the ARC remains the most productive part of the reserve avian wise. There is a possibility that some Common Terns will nest on Burrowes Islands as they are showing some interest.

6 of 17 Green Sandpipers at Scotney sand pit at the weekend

Yet another Gull doomed to die a lingering death due to the carelessness of anglers

A stunning Argyresthia brockeella a common micro but always nice to see 

05/07/2024

A grim summers day on the peninsular with constant drizzle and mist. The poor visibility scuppered any chance of a sea watch so it was 3 visits to Hanson today.

An eclipse drake Garganey at the ARC from Hanson Hide this morning

2 Little ringed plovers from Hanson this morning

As I scanned through the Gulls on the islands this afternoon, this super Roseate Tern came into view, unfortunately it was only present for 15 minutes before it disappeared. Despite its short stay it was undoubtedly my highlight of the day.

 

04/-7/2024

This adult Little Stint was the more or less the fist bird I saw at the ARC early this morning and it was still present at 19.30 this evening. It is the first Little Stint of the year on the peninsular.also present today 2 Common Sandpipers, a Ruff, a Little Ringed Plover, Ringed Plovers, 2 Avocets, the 2 Oystercatcher chicks still doing well and a Garganey of note.

A couple of short sea watches today saw absolutely nothing notable.

5 of the 14 Green Sandpipers in the Scotney Sand Pit this morning, also 3 Black-tailed Godwits, 2 Dunlin a Common Sandpiper, 16 Avocets, 4 Yellow wagtails of note

3 more of the 14 Green Sandpipers

Polish ringed Black-headed Gull T2VL at the ARC last night, its life history below

 

03/07/2024

Great White Egret at the ARC this morning

The Mandarin Duck was still present though keeping its distance, as was the Garganey, a new Ruffwas feeding on the islands with a Common Sandpiper and several Ringed Plovers. The 2 Oystercatcher chicks are doing well with one of them feeding itself, also the Avocet is still sitting tight despite yesterdays disturbance. 2 Wigeon are present among the huge numbers of Pochard, Gadwall and Coot. Tufted Duck families are noticeable by there absence as usually there are several broods around the lake by now.

Norwegian ringed Great Black-backed Gull J99AM on the beach near The Patch this morning. Just 5 Mediterranean Gulls, a Sandwich Tern and just a very few of the usual Gulls at The Patch and no sign of any juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls.

I was watching this Hobby hawking the Dragonflies over the field opposite my garden at lunch time, eventually it came close enough for a snap. A Common Buzzard was on its chosen post upsetting the pair of Yellow Wagtails nesting close by.
An afternoon visit to the sand pit in constant drizzle found a minimum of 6 Green Sandpipers, a Common Sandpiper, 2 Dunlin, a Redshank, 3 Black-tailed Godwits and 14 Avocet including a chick. The Sand Martins appear to have fledged and left the site, a couple of Yellow Wagtails were still present.

The last few days

The first Mandarin Duck I have seen at the ARC and the first I've seen at Dungeness since October 2017

Mandarin Duck

The ARC is the place that has the most avian interest at the moment, at least 2 pairs of Common Terns are attempting to nest here, there were 3 pairs of Avocets attempting to nest, but 2 pairs abandoned there nests and eggs probably due to unthinking disturbance by staff who mostly have no knowledge about what is breeding (you rarely see staff with binoculars). The breeding of sea birds in general on the reserve has been woeful for the last few years, but this year has been disastrous, even the Herring Gulls have had a dreadful year. High water levels will be blamed. The RSPB has spent a good deal of money employing contractors to build the islands up over the last few years, but seemingly without good oversight of what the contractors are doing and stabilising the materials on the islands as they build them so it wont get washed away in the first storm. As for the hay fields which are now dry they really need to be re-thought, because once again breeding success of Lapwing and Redshank has been minimal. They are certainly not value for the money that has been spent on them. 

 

The first Wood Sandpiper of the year at the ARC, hopefully with a few islands starting to appear here more returning migrant water birds will grace this lake. The first Great White Egret I have seen in a while dropped in this evening.

A Greenshank flying around the ARC

Glossy Ibis on the ARC, hopefully its still around

A Ruff at the ARC

A good Gadwall mum to raise 8 chicks on the ARC

Garganey on the ARC a daily occurence now.

Sandwich Terns coming to bathe in the ARC in the evening

A regular returning colour ringed Black-headed Gull to the ARC

Avocet with a single chick in the sandpit

Black-tailed Godwits in the sandpit, up to 15 Green Sandpipers and 4 Little Ringed Plovers there

A nectering Privet Hawkmoth

A rare visitor to my trap a Sussex Emerald

The superb micro moth Agapeta zoegana

Vitula biviella a scarce micro moth

28/06/2024

J99AM 2nd Calendar year Great Black-backed Gull on the beach in front the hide this morning, this is the second time I have recorded this bird.

A better sea watch than I thought would be.

06.45-08.00 from the hide:

Swift: 3W
Kittiwake: 1W
Black-headed Gull: 13W
Mediterranean gull: 1W (adult)
Great Black-backed Gull: 9W      J99AM  present 
Sandwich Tern: 5W
Auk: 1E
Fulmar: 2E
Manx Shearwater: 3E
Gannet: 2E      64W
Grey Seal: 1
Harbour Porpoise: 2

Most of the rest of my day was taken up with domestic stuff, but I did get down to the ARC this evening,

where 22 Black-tailed Godwits were making use of the newly emerged islands, along with 4 Avocets, 2 Ringed Plovers and a Dunlin. also there several 100 each of Pochard and Gadwall, a Hobby chasing the Hirundines, 2 Cuckoo, 2 Marsh Harriers and 3 Common Terns. At least 60 Swifts were hawing over the causeway and north bank along with Sand Martins, House Martins and Swallows

There were 22 Black-tailed Godwits present from Hanson this evening

2 of the 4 Avocets present this evening

27/06/2024

 I've spent some time wandering around the back of Scotney checking the lakes and fields, the fields have been relatively disappointing with just small numbers of Corn Buntings and Yellow Wagtails, Barn Owl and Little Owl were seen but usually distant. On the lakes it look as though the Avocets have done well, unfortunately the crops are now so tall it is extremely difficult to view. The Sand pit has been the most productive producing 10 species of wader and the breeding Sand Martins. The Arc has not yet been very productive though I'm sure it will soon start to produce the birds, at the moment it seems there is just a lone pair of Avocets nesting and an Oystercatcher with 2 chicks along with the now traditional 100s of Gadwall and Pochard. I spent an hour this afternoon at the fishing boats doing my first summer afternoon sea watch of the season, it was very pleasant but apart from 29 Swifts departing our shores it was like watching paint dry.

5 of the 15 Green Sandpipers that were present on this visit

A long wander around the reserve last night found several Norfolk Hawkers, it is amazing the way that the  once very rare Dragonfly has colonised the south coast so quickly.

This Wren seemed to be trying out sing a Cetti's Warbler

This Greenshank was flying around the the very nearly completely dried out hay fields, until it rains or water is pumped on to the fields there will very little of interest to see avian wise.

This young Badger was snuffling its way around the predator fence

Garganey on Burrowes from Firth, at least islands are starting to appear on Burrowes

A Wall Lizard found on my wanderings

A tatty Beautiful marbled from the Plodland trap

True Lover Knot