A Damp Squib! 30/09/2024

Just 6 Arctic Skuas were seen today

3 Balearic Shearwaters in the misty rainy gloom this morning

The strong SSE wind combined with rain and mist promised to be a super days sea watching, but in reality it was more of a damp squib. Conditions were right for the birds but they obviously didn't think so. We all got rather wet and back ache from standing at the fishing boats most of the day for relatively poor reward.

 07.00-15.00with CP, SG, JY, RW, OL, TW

Brent Goose: 51W

Teal: 7W

Common Scoter: 25W     12E

Red-breasted Merganser: 2W

Great-crested Grebe: 2 present

Knot: 1W

Dunlin: 2W

Turnstone: 1 present

Little Tern: 2W

Black Tern: 3W

Common Tern: 42W

Sandwich Tern: 312 

Little Gull: 1E 

Kittiwake: 31W  

Black-headed Gull: 18W

Mediterranean Gull: 7W

Common Gull: 7W

Herring Gull: present n/c

Great Black-backed Gull: present n/c

Lesser Black-backed Gull: present n/c

Arctic Skua: 4W     2E

Pomarine Skua: 1E juvenile

Great Skua: 1E 

Razorbill: 4W

Guillemot: 2W

Red-throated Diver: 1W       1 present

Fulmar: 1E

Sooty Shearwater: 1E

Balearic Shearwater: 21W       

Gannet: 136W   

Grey Heron: 1 in off

Merlin: 1 in off

Swallow: 361  out

Grey Seal: 2

Harbour Porpoise: 4+

One of todays Common Terns taken through a mixture of rain, mist and sea spray most of which seemed to be on the camera lense.

29/09/2024

Red-throated Diver passing the fishing boats soon after sunrise

Some of the Brent Geese flew along the beach over us

I must be getting old, by 10.00 o'clock I was very cold, so left the beach to have a hot breakfast, this afternoon by 16.00 I was again cold and this time went home for a roast dinner.😊

 07.00-10.00 & 13.15-16.30 with SG, JY, TH, RW, SM, CT, DW, OL, RO et al

Brent Goose: 2E     176W

Shelduck: 6W

Shoveler: 9W

Wigeon: 2W

Pintail: 1W

Teal: 2W

Common Scoter: 41W     6E

Great-crested Grebe: 4 present

Oystercatcher: 2W   1E

Ringed Plover: 1W

Curlew: 1W

Black Tern: 16W

Arctic Tern: 1W

Common Tern: 43W

Sandwich Tern: 51W     2E

Kittiwake: 69W 

Little Gull: 198W       

Black-headed Gull: 41W

Mediterranean Gull: 57W

Common Gull: 30W

Herring Gull: present n/c

Great Black-backed Gull: present n/c

Lesser Black-backed Gull: 18W

Arctic Skua: 3W     4E 

Great Skua: 1E 

Guillemot: 2W

Red-throated Diver: 4W     1 present

Fulmar: 1E

Sooty Shearwater: 4W      3E

Manx Shearwater: 1W

Balearic Shearwater: 5W

Gannet: 307W    91E   

Cormorant: 36  present 

Swallow: 12,666  out

Wheatear 2 behind boats

Grey Seal: 1

Harbour Porpoise: 4+

Many thanks to Steve Gale for counting all the Swallows.👍

Juvenile Gannet passing the boats this afternoon

A visit to the ARC on my way back to the beach after lunch saw the Glossy Ibis, Black-necked Grebe, the top of the Garganeys head, 100s of Shoveler plus the usual wildfowl, sadly the islands are still diminishing rapidly, tonights forecast rain will certainly add to the problem. 

2 spoonbills were on Scotney main lake per SO.

It looks as though the new islands being created on Denge Marsh  might attract the Gulls to roost there, Tom Wright saw 2 Caspian and a Yellow-legged Gull on them this afternoon.

   

27-28/09/2024

A superb 1w Caspian Gull, its Persil white head gleaming at the fishing boats yesterday afternoon

A typically aggressive bird

This is a second bird that flew straight through

2 short but very slow sea watched from the fishing boats this morning:

07.30-08.30 & 10.15-11.15

Brent Goose: 1E

Common Scoter: 1E

Great-crested Grebe: 3 present

Oystercatcher: 18E

Arctic Tern: 1 present

Sandwich Tern: c20 present  

Kittiwake: 1W      

Black-headed Gull: 31W

Mediterranean Gull: 2W

Common Gull: 3W

Herring Gull: present n/c

Great Black-backed Gull: present n/c

Lesser Black-backed Gull: present n/c

Arctic Skua: 3 present  

Red-throated Diver: 2 present

Gannet: 36W       

Cormorant: present n/c

Hobby: 1 in off

Swallow: 16 out

Meadow Pipit: 6 in

Wheatear 2 behind boats

Grey Seal: 1

Harbour Porpoise: 6

An  Arctic Tern in the early morning sunlight at the fishing boats today

A juvenile Sandwich Tern at the fishing boats this morning

A Wheatear at the back of the fishing boats, 1 of 16 seen today most being at the back of Scotney Pits

My first Redwing of the autumn this morning courtesy of Dungeness Bird Observatory

My first Song Thrush of the Autumn this morning, how times have changed for this once common garden bird.

I cycled out to Scotney where there were still 20+ Yellow Wagtails out the back this afternoon. Sadly no Corn Buntings or Tree Sparrows were seen, they have probably moved to their winter foraging areas. There was mobile flock of c200 Golden Plover with at least 3 Ruff with them, several Ravens were making a nuisance of themselves flushing all they could, including the hordes of feral Greylag, Canada and Egyptian Geese. 

Every bit of scrub at the back of Scotney seemed hold at least 1 Chiffchff

The Spoonbill on the East back pit, a poor image but superb compared to efforts of the Osprey that was flying around The Point late morning of about half an hour.

 

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.