11/06/2025

Todays highlight was this gorgeous Rose-coloured Starling found this afternoon around The Moat by Jacob.

At the ARC this morning the female Red-crested Pochard was hiding in the reeds with her ducklings, alas it would seem that she has lost one of them, the drake appears to have relocated to Denge Marsh. Also there 8 Avocets of which at least 4 are sitting on eggs, probably 2 Ringed Plovers sitting and the Lapwing still sitting, the Redshank chick is growing a pace so hopefully will survive, several miserable looking Hobbys were sitting around obviously not enjoying this mornings cool drizzly weather. A Bee-eater found by Jacob toured The Desert this morning for c15 minutes which I managed to miss due to to poor decisions by me.

 

Drake Garganey going into eclipse plumage at the ARC from Hanson this morning

Drake Garganey with a 1st Summer Little Gull and a Black-headed Gull at the ARC this morning

1st Summer Little Gull at the ARC this morning

A Water Ermine a relatively frequent visitor to my trap

10/06/2025

The Nao Santa Maria 

Apparently it is a replica of Christopher Columbus ship that crossed the Atlantic, it looked very uncomfortable on board as it made its way past Dungeness this morning, I can't imagine how bad it would be in an Atlantic storm.

Some of the very few Gannets that passed the Bouy this morning

A 2nd calendar year Hobby waiting for some Dragonflys to take to the wing at the ARC this morning

A cycle ride around the Scotney complexwas very disappointing in the strong SW wind. Apart from feral Geese there was little else to see there, a few Yellow Wagtails and Corn buntings but not much else. There was no news of note from the reserve.

A Grass Rivulet probably the scarcest moth in my trap this morning

A Puss Moth the 3rd this year so far in my trap

 

09/06/2025

The 2 first Summer Little Gulls were still to be found on the ARC today

1s Little Gull from Hanson

At least 4 pairs of Avocets are sitting again at the ARC, along with a couple of pairs of Common Terns, Black-headed Gulls and Ringed Plovers. Hobbys continue hunt in good numbers over the reed beds when the sun comes out, otherwise plenty of eclipse wildfowl there and around the rest of the reserve. The Dengemarsh Greylags, Canada and Egyptian Geese have been joined by a Barnacle Goose and 2 Bar-headed Geese. There have been no obvious signs of successful breeding of the Bitterns, hopefully they started a little later due to the poor spring weather.

Female Red-crested Pochard still had her 4 ducklings today

Four Spotted Chaser

Caterpillar of a Herald Moth

Southern Marsh Orchid, a very poor showing of these this year at Dungeness no doubt due to the cold, dry strong NE winds that blew for weeks.
 

07/06/2025

A pair of juvenile Bearded Tits at the ARC this morning

There has been not been much to post about for the last few days, spring sea watching has more or less petered out, with the exception of a trickle of Manx Shearwaters an a couple of pulses of Arctic Skuas.

This morning with more strong SW winds and rain I went straight to the ARC just in case Red-necked Phalarope had pitched in overnight with little expectation of seeing one, so I was not disappointed when I didn't see one. I was delighted to see a family of Bearded Tits up close, but more delighted to see a Redshank chick on the long island, it was totally unexpected after the Avocets and Black-headed Gulls all deserted there nests there, at least the Avocets look as though they are trying again on a different island. 

I had just left the hide when Ray O'reilly put out a message that the female Red-crested Pochard had reappeared after being missing for some weeks and she had 4 newly hatched ducklings, representing the first breeding on the Dungeness peninsular.

Around the reserve 17 Hobbys hunting together over the Hookers viewpoint, a couple of Black-tailed Godwits and Sanderling on the Hayfields and Burrowes. A Purple Heron was reported over the New Excavations thgis afternoon.

Juvenile Bearded Tits at the ARC this morning

Adult male Bearded Tit at the ARC this morning

A female Red-crested Pochard with 4 ducklings at the ARC this morning

Adult and juvenile Redshank at the ARC this morning

 

03/06/2025

2 Sea watches today, this mornings watch was not particularly exciting, but 2hrs this afternoon produced 10 Arctic Skuas including a flock of 5 all East, also 12 Manx Shearwaters 7 East 5 West, so much better but birds were not flooding past.

Around the reserve the Red-crested Pochard remains at the ARC, usually asleep on the centre islands from Hanson, also 1 pair of Avocets look as though they are trying nest there.

Burrowes was very windswept producing 3 Little Gulls of note all 1st Summer birds.

Yellow Wagtail Lydd Fields

A walk out onto Lydd Fields yesterday found 3 pairs of Yellow Wagtails and 2 pairs of Corn Buntings, in the evening I found many more pairs of each around Scotney and Walland. I checked the Tree Sparrow boxes whilst I was there and most looked as though they have been used or are still in use 🤞for a good season. On the minus side I did not encounter a single Barn Owl which I would have expected to be out hunting to feed young, I'm hoping they are late laying and hatching this year.

A Pale Tussock a new moth for my VC15 trap

While out in Lydd Fields I came across many of these Whit-Satin caterpillars 

30/05/2025

As the sea watching has been so disappointing lately I couldn't bring myself to suffer again today, instead I did my moth traps which were surprisingly good, then went to the reserve starting at the ARC where the Red-crested Pochard continues to reside along with the 3 Wigeon. Common Tern numbers seem to picking up so I'm hopeful of some breeding. It appears that all of the Avocets have abandoned there nests along with most of the Black-headed Gulls. Richard did a sea watch and it was every bit as poor as I thought it would be.

On Burrowes  a Little Ringed Plover, a Curlew Sandpiper, a Little Stint, 6 Sanderling, 6 Dunlin and c15 Ringed Plovers. aA flock of at least 19 Black-tailed Godwits was on the hayfields. Hobbys were everywhere around the reserve with estimates of up to 30 being present.

Little Ringed Plover on Burrowes this morning

A poor distant image of the Curlew Sandpiper on Burrowes this morning

Black-tailed Godwits on hayfield 1

This afternoon at the ARC a Little Gull and my first Spoonbill of the year along with more Hobbys, also a Norfolk Hawker by the Pines.

A 1s Little Gull at the ARC this afternoon

Spoonbill at the ARC this afternoon

1 of the 20-30 Hobbys around the reserve today

 

 

Rained Off

This mornings sea watch was as expected rather poor with just a few each of Common Scoter, Gannets and Sandwich Terns, then the rain and stronger winds set in and that was the end of birding for the day.

There was absolutely no other news from today.

Little Ringed Plovers on the reserve yesterday

Great-crested Grebes on Burrowes Yesterday

3 Wigeon on the ARC from Hanson yesterday, an unusual date.

Brown Argus at the ARC yesterday

 

Day Trip to the Pas de Calais

On Wednesday 27/05/2025 Myself, Chris, Jacob and Richard had a days birding trip to the Pas de Calais, 

we took the 06.15  shuttle to Calais, then a short drive to Guines. The weather was not as good as we hoped but that didn't seem to deter the birds as we started at the wetland board walk. Short-toed Treecreeper was seen and heard very quickly, along with Cuckoo, Blackcaps, Reed, Sedge and Cetti's Warblers, an astonishing 13 mainly singing Marsh Warblers, 2 singing Bluethroats, White Stork, a Honey Buzzard, several Marsh Harriers, Turtle Doves purring along with other common species. A Scarce Chaser dragonfly was a surprise.

1 of 13 singing Marsh Warblers we found at Guinnes

White Stork over the Guinnes Boardwalk

Scarce Chaser at Guines

 Our next stop was very close by at Guinnes Forest

Spotted Flycatcher nesting behind a security light on a building by the car park

Several Lady Orchids were seen by the track in the forest

Honey Buzzard Overload

As we walked along the forest track we spotted a Hone Buzzard displaying and wing clapping. then another appeared and over a period of about half an hour at 6 different Honey Buzzards were seen displaying and play fighting, we were awe struck by this magical sight, just to crown things off a Melodious Warbler was singing beside us which were virtually ignoring due to the awesome sight of all the Honey Buzzards overhead.

Male Honey Buzzard

Male Honey Buzzard

Male Honey Buzzard

Female Honey Buzzard

Female Honey Buzzard

Female Honey Buzzard

2 Honey Buzzards

3 Honey Buzzards

Honey Buzzards Tussling

Honey Buzzards Tussling

Honey Buzzards Tussling

Honey Buzzards Tussling

Honey Buzzards Tussling

Honey Buzzards Tussling

Honey Buzzards Tussling

Wing clapping Honey Buzzard 

Wing clapping Honey Buzzard 

Wing clapping Honey Buzzard 

Wing clapping Honey Buzzard 

Wing clapping Honey Buzzard 

Wing clapping Honey Buzzard 

The first Marsh Tit I have seen for a few years, we also saw and heard several Hawfinches.

Definitely Roe Deer😅

Black-necked Grebe at Oye Plage

A blizzard of Sandwich, Common Terns with a few Mediterranean and Black-headed Gulls at Oye Plage

Our last stop was at Oye Plage where due to the dry spring there were very few waders, it is the first time I have visited site in spring and not seen Black-winged Stilts, however we still saw 15 Spoonbills, Egrets, Little Ringed Plovers, Black-necked Grebes. Several Fan-tailed Warblers were seen here along with at least 5 Kentish Plovers and an Icterine Warbler.

We caught the 19.16 shuttle back to Folkstone, many thanks to Chris, Jacob and Richard for there great company and cakes and making this a trip to remember always.