Friday 17/01/2020

Apart from Kittiwakes and Auks very little was seen on this mornings sea watch. Its probably the first time I can remember only seeing just a single Gannet in a 90 minute sea watch at Dungeness.
07:45-09:15 from the sea watch hide with AJG:
Common Scoter: 3W
Red-throated Diver: 11W    5E
Great-crested Grebe: 4W
Gannet: 1E
Cormorant: present n/c
Kittiwake: 571W
Guillemot: 418W    74E
Razorbill: 40W   4E
Auk sp: 772W        12E
Grey Seal: 1
Most of the rest of the day was taken up with domestic stuff, judging by reports from other locals I didn't miss much.
11 years ago today I photographed this King Eider at Pett, I day dream of seeing another flying past Dungeness on a sea watch.

King Eider, Pett 17th January 2009

Thursday 16/01/2020

  Kittiwake at the fishing boats this afternoon

7.30-09.30 from the hide with CP & RO
Brent Goose: 2E
Red-throated Diver: 29E   19W
Great-crested Grebe: 3E
Fulmar: 4W    2E
Gannet: 13W    56E
Cormorant: present n/c
Kittiwake: 367W      c100 o/s
Mediterranean Gull: 11W    3W
Guillemot: 338E       72W        c100 o/s
Razorbill: 6E
Auk sp: 376E    108W
At The Patch this morning all I could find was 2 North Thames ringed Herring Gulls of ant note.
At Scotney still 5 Long-tailed Ducks present, 2 at the Sussex end and 3 tucked up under the bank at the Kent end. All the usual feral Geese were present but I could find no other Grey Geese among the 1,00s of Greylags. Still 1,00s each of Lapwing and Golden Plover and at least 6 Ruff.
The regular Great White Egret was at southern end of the ARC from the Causeway today.

 Fulmar passing the fishing boats this afternoon

Some of 1,000+ Guillemots past the fishing boats this afternoon

13.30-15.40 from the fishing boats:
Red-throated diver: 4W       2E
Fulmar: 1W
Gannet: 11W
Kittiwake: 191W
Mediterranean Gull: 1W
Guillemot: 1127W.  (No Razorbills seen)
Auk sp:137W
Grey Seal: 1
The drake Smew was still present at the back of Hookers per RO. Burrowes was very quiet this afternoon.

Wednesday 15/01/2020

A wet and stormy sea watch this morning as the strong wind drove the rain into the hide.

08.00-10.00 from the sea watch hide with RW & OL,

Velvet Scoter: 2W

Common Scoter: 52W

Red-throated Diver: 60W

Great-crested Grebe: 2 o/s

Gannet: 265W

Cormorant: c400 o/s

Kittiwake: 37W

Guillemot: 212W

Razorbill: 43W

Auk sp: 47W

The regular Great White Egret at the end of the ARC when the rain cleared

14.00-15.30 from the fishing boats with RW, OL & AJG
Red-throated Diver: 19W   5E
Fulmar: 1W
Gannet: 27W    2E
Kittiwake: 303W
Black-headed Gull: 699W (It seemed like a good idea to count them)
Mediterranean Gull: 2W
Guillemot: 42W      3E
Auk sp: 109W  22E
The 5 Long-tailed Ducks were at the Sussex end of Scotney today per JY.

Tuesday 14/01/2020

07.30-09.00 from the sea watch with OL & AJG who kindly collated the numbers:
Velvet Scoter: 4W
Common Scoter: 272W
Red-throated Diver: 172W
Great-crested Grebe: 3 o/s
Fulmar: 3W
Gannet: 359W
Cormorant: c200 present
Kittiwake: 219W
Guillemot: 468W     35E
Razorbill:  112W       6E
Auk sp: 75W       55E
As the rain set in, I turned my attention to domestic stuff, plus an afternoon at the pictures.
All 5 long-tailed Ducks are still at Scotney per OL.

Monday 13/01/2020

AJG kindly sent me his sea watch sightings today as was I doing the WEBs count on the reserve.

07.30-09.00

Eider:1W (drake)

Red-breasted Merganser: 3W

Red-throated Diver: 8W    12E

Fulmar:4W

Gannet: 339W

Cormorant: 700W into Rye bay

Kittiwake: 259W

Guillemot: 87W   c150 o/s

Auk sp: 57E    37W

The WEBs count on Burrowes and New Excavations were a disappointment, I recorded no Moorhens, no Mallard, no Grebes of any description, no Water R and very low numbers of all the other wildfowl. After the count I joined CT in wander around the back of Hookers where we located the drake Smew. 

Drake Smew at Hookers late morning

Only 3 Bewick Swans at Midley this afternoon

As the weather closed in this afternoon a quick check at Scotney found 3 Long-tailed Ducks at the Kent end (4 were reported earlier) and the usual feral Geese. On a very barren Walland I only found 3 Bewick Swans at Midley and saw precious little elsewhere on the marsh.

Sunday 12/01/2020

A drizzly morning with wind gusting SW 8
08.10-09.10 from the sea watch hide:
Brent Goose: 10E    2W
Common Scoter: 2W
Red-throated Diver: 2W
Great-crested Grebe: 2 o/s
Fulmar: 6W
Gannet; 80W  12E
Cormorant: c250 into Rye Bay
Kittiwake: 38W
Black-headed Gull: 2,000+ at The Patch
Guillemot: 73W    14E
Razorbill: 7W  2E
Auk sp: 116W    58E
At Scotney at least 2 Long-tailed Ducks still present this morning, they were very difficult to spot in the among the waves at the Sussex end that were being whipped up by the gale. 1,000s each of Lapwing and Golden Plover were seen wheeling around over the lake and out to the wind turbines.

Smew at Hookers this afternoon

Around Hookers this afternoon a couple of Bearded Tits calling remained unseen, the elusive drake Smew was moving between the pits via the linking channels, but eventually showed well.

A Grey Heron uncharacteristically posed for the camera at Hookers

Late afternoon from Dennis's the usual hordes of Cormorants, 8 Black-tailed Godwits flew through and a Firecrest was in the brambles. Only a few Gulls had come in by the time I left, I saw nothing unusual among them.

9-10/01/2020

Thursday

On Thursday a thoroughly miserable day with constant drizzle and some heavy rain blown in on a strong SW wind.
08.20-10.20 from the sea watch hide joined by OL:
Common Scoter: 2W
Red-throated Diver: 34W   4E
Fulmar: 3W   2E
Gannet: 452W
Cormorant: present n/c
Great Skua: 2W
Kittiwake: 57W
Mediterranean Gull: 2W
Guillemot: 559W
Razorbill: 43W
There were a pair Peregrines over the power station and a female Sparrowhawk over the car park.
No sign of the Smew on Tanners Pool, but it"s probably still around the back of Hookers, but I wasn't going to venture out around there in the poor weather.
As I drove to Scotney a Merlin whizzed across the road right in front of me, at Scotney the usual many Lapwing, Golden Plover and Wigeon but I couldn't find any of the Long-tailed Ducks. With the weather getting worse the lure of a cup of tea was enough for me to give up for the day.

Friday

With builders work going on at home to today my time out was limited. An early morning walk down the Lydd to Dungeness footpath to view the Geese sadly found no Tundra Bean Geese, just several 100s of Greylag, Egyptian, Canada, 2 Brent and a Barnacle Goose. Marsh Harriers and a Merlin were spooking the Lapwing and Golden Plover.

At Scotney I did find 2 of the Long-tailed Ducks, though 3 were seen by SM, the usual Wigeon flock, Golden Plover, Lapwing and feral Geese were also there.

Late afternoon 9 Great White Egrets went to roost at the ARC along with 14 Little Egrets.

The drake Smew was at Hookers per PB.

Tuesday 07/01/2020

Due to domestic stuff I didn't make it to the sea watch this morning but AJG kindly sent me his and DW sightings:

07.30-09.00 from the sea watch hide:

Red-throated Diver: 42W

Fulmar: 6W

Gannet: 18 around

Kittiwake: 52W

Mediterranean Gull: 1W

Guillemot: 41W

Razorbill: 5W

Auk sp: 136W    14E

Poor image of the 5 Long-tailed Ducks at Scotney this morning

I did get to Scotney mid morning where I was pleasantly surprised to find the Long-tailed Ducks had increased to 5, which easily the biggest party I have ever encountered on the south coast. The usual feral Geese, Golden Plover, Lapwing and Marsh Harriers were also present.

The drake Smew was seen on Tanners Pool per DS but I have heard of no reports of the Tundra Bean Geese today. The miserable weather late afternoon precluded looking for yesterdays hooded Herring Gull in the roost today.  

Sunday 05/12/2020

This mornings sea watch is basically a repeat of the few days.
07.45-09.30 from the sea watch hide with AJG & RW:
Brent Goose: 25E
Wigeon: 2W
Common Scoter: 6E
Red-throated Diver: 79E    3W
Great-crested Grebe: 2E    1W    3 o/s
Fulmar: 1W
Gannet: 174E
Cormorant: 251 o/s
Oystercatcher: 2E
Great Skua: 2W
Kittiwake: 14E     451W
Guillemot: 446E     242W
Razorbill: 18E    11W   
Auk sp: 378E      211W
Harbour Porpoise: 2
We managed to find the 2 mobile Tundra Bean Geese at Dengemarsh with a party of c100 Greylags trying to hide behind some reeds, then a quick visit to Scotney where we located 1 of the 3 Long-tailed Ducks, 3 Goldeneye and 5 Pintail of note.
I spent late morning/early afternoon wandering around the back of the water tower, which was long slog for very little return, 3 Common Snipe being the highlight.
2 Bewick Swans were showing nicely on the ARC viewed from the causeway.

Bewick Swans on the ARC from the causeway

Late afternoon on the Burrowes an adult Yellow-legged Gull was the only notable Gull I saw come into roost.

The drake Smew was again very elusive today, unlike the herd of Bewick Swans at Midley.

The male Hen Harrier came into the roost on the ranges and 2 Short-eared Owls were present per JY.

Saturday 04/01/2020

07.30-09.30 from the sea watch hide with John, RW & SO
The first hour very busy I must have missed a lot, probably more Razorbills than I recorded as so much going on I clicked the Guillemots in 10s.
John had a Great Northern Diver go east high which I missed.
Shelduck: 1W
Common Scoter: 4W
Red-throated Diver: 379E     3W
Great-crested Grebe: 23E    2W
Gannet: 47E    26W
Cormorant: c2,500E (the flock stretched back to RYE, so presumably roosted there)
Oystercatcher: 3E
Curlew: 1W
Great Skua: 1W
Kittiwake: 7E   119W
Guillemot: 2,690E     140W
Razorbill: 21E       15W
Auk sp:  estimated 150E      40W
Late morning on a very busy reserve 2 Red-crested Pochards from Dennis's picnic area courtesy of PB. 100s of Lapwing, Golden Plover and Wigeon on the Boulderwall Fields.

Mistle Thrush an early afternoon surprise in Lydd, now a scarce bird here.

The regular Little Owl at Lydd camp early afternoon

At Scotney I could only find 1 Long-tailed Duck, also despite searching through all the feral Geese there I could find no wild Geese, 3 Marsh Harriers were hunting along the far bank.

Early afternoon the drake Smew reappeared at Tanners Pool and 2 Tundra Bean Geese were found at Dengemarsh. Being to lazy to walk out to Dengemarsh hide I tried to locate them from Dengemarsh Road, but they were playing hide and seek and winning, while we were looking for them we were distracted by the male Hen Harrier which suddenly appeared fairly close to us, as tried to get my camera up I knocked the focus points out, by the time I had reset them the Harrier had flown down to couple of hundred yards from house then disappearing towards the airport and out of camera range, while I was still cursing myself we spotted the Tundra Bean Geese also heading towards my house, we saw them land a few hundred yards away from the house with some Lapwing and Golden Plover, so we made our way back to the cars and headed towards them, before we got there they were all spooked by something, probably a Common Buzzard and lost. with the light fading I went home. Hopefully I will get the Hen Harrier on garden year list in the next couple of weeks along with the Tundra Bean Geese.