22/04/2026

Dark morph Pomarine Skua and a Harbour Porpoise

 

Intermediate morph Pomarine Skua

Another day of cool strong ENE winds that increased to near gale force by early afternoon. Due to the wind the land on the peninsular was barely looked at, those that did venture out around the area saw no sign of any new migrants in the bushes.

Though the sea watch totals look quite good there were long periods with little passing , those that did were mainly in small numbers.

Fulmar

Some of the 100s of Gannets past today

Fox walking the tideline looking for scraps

19/04/2026

Good to see a little wader passage today

The Merlin that landed on the beach in front the sea watch hide this morning

 Some of the 90+ Oystercatchers that flew east past The Point this afternoon,Lovely to see plenty of singing Sedge Warblers around the reserve, the Reed Warblers were camera shy.

18/04/2026

Pied Flycatcher (many thanks to Dave and Sheila Bunney for their hospitality)

A very quiet sea watch this morning( 5 Whimbrel and Bar-tailed Godwit the highlight), was brought to a merciful end by a spell of light rain on the peninsula which dropped plenty of migrants into the bushes. These included a Pied Flycatcher, a trilling Wood Warbler, Redstarts, Ring Ouzel, many Willow Warblers, Blackcaps, Garden Warblers, Lesser Whitethroats and Common Whitethroats to add to the many already present. There was still plenty of Wheatears and the dreaded Pheasant, a Red Kite flew through and 2 Brown Hares were in The Desert.

Surprisingly for the weekend there was a dearth of reports from the reserve so I'm guessing not much was seen there.

Blackcap

Redstart

16/04/2026

My first 3 Skua sp. day of the year.

Another day of mostly staring out to sea through mist and pollution. The list looks good but belies the long intervals of very little to be seen.

Once again there appears to have been very few grounded migrants, despite several birders combing the area nothing new was found.

A fairly distant Great Skua passing the sea watch hide this afternoon in the poor visibility

 

15/04/2026

 Most of my day was spent staring out to sea again, the early morning spell was slow with rain and poor visibility. Later in the day a trickle of Terns and Arctic Skuas added to the Scoter, Brent and Divers.

The reports from other areas on the peninsula were all nothing to report, even on the reserve. I heard of no reports from Scotney. 

14/04/2026

 A much improved sea watch today, but still a distinct lack of Terns and Waders, tomorrow looks good time will tell.

On the land the birding was described to me as pants, which I would concur with, the exception being the back of Scotney this evening, where 40+ Yellow Wagtails were present, Corn Buntings and Tree Sparrows, also a flock of c50 Mediterranean Gulls there.

A lifeboat ✅  The John Buchanan Barr, RNLI 16-21 passing Dungeness today, it will be the new Fraserburgh lifeboat.

Swallows

Sedge Warbler singing from a field of Rape

Yellow Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail

12/04/2026

Some of the 1,000+ Gannets that moved East on Saturday morning

Saturday was probably the best sea watch so far this year, though it was all but done and dusted by 09.00, 

Considering there was over 3,000 birds logged there was very little variety, a few Skuas, 1,000+ Sandwich Terns and Gannets with 100s of Common Scoter and a lone Red-necked grebe in the afternoon. Today provided some more Skuas and some Manx Shearwaters but little else.

On the land an increase in Swallows and Painted Ladies. The Large Tortoiseshell was still by the Long Pits today. 

On the reserve 5+ Water Pipits, a few Avocets, 3+ Little Ringed Plovers and Ruff, all the usual Warblers are now in, Bearded Tits can be readily seen and heard and a Bittern at Dengemarsh is calling regularly.

Dark phase Arctic Skua

Pale phase Arctic Skua

Some of the 100s of Common Scoter that East on Saturday morning

Dutch training vessel the Thalassa coming inshore for some shelter from the strong winds

Avocets on Hayfield 1

There was an arrival of Painted Ladies onto the Peninsula this weekend

09/04/2026

A shift in the wind and very poor air quality made for an uninspiring sea watches today, however the warmer temperatures made it a little more comfortable. 

Richard did a complete circuit of the reserve but was unable to find any new birds there.

A cycle ride to the back of Scotney found reasonable numbers of Tree Sparrows, along with good numbers of Yellow Wagtails, Corn Buntings, Reed Buntings and Skylarks.

Yellow Wagtail at Scotney

Black-necked Grebe at Sconey

Raven with a full crop at Scotney, the young have all fledged from the nest.

2 Woodlarks were found by the railway this afternoon, my photographic efforts on this very scarce bird at Dungeness were disastrous.

A Lesser Swallow Prominent the highlight from my VC15 trap last night, less than annual for me.

08/04/2026

 Most of today was taken up with sea watching which was quite fruitful, highlights being a very early first Pomarine Skua of the spring, a lovely male Hen Harrier going out to sea, 100s of Scoter and Sandwich Terns, also my first Black-throated Diver of the year. The land was fairly quiet, though a Common Redstart was trapped in The Moat. 

A quick check at Scotney saw an increase in Yellow Wagtails, several Reed Warblers in the ditches, Corn Buntings and Tree Sparrows. 

The first Chough to have occurred at Dungeness, albeit from the Dover reintroduction scheme. Shame about having to watch it looking straight into the sun.

One of at least 2 Black Redstarts behind the sea watch hide

One of several Yellow Wagtails at Scotney today

07/04/2026

A Ring Ouzel that was trapped in The Moat early this morning by the DBO ringing team

A party of 5 Velvet Scoters moving East past the sea watch hide this morning

Spring sea watching picked up a little today, the highlight being 7 White-beaked Dolphins moving East, a full list below.

This Gannet appeared to have a very large fish head stuck in its throat, after much head shaking it eventually freed itself.

The first Common Whitethroats, Reed Warblers and House Martins were seen today, though the land was generally fairly quiet.

2 Little Ringed Plovers on hayfield 1 

Redshank at Dengemarsh 

Corn Bunting at Galloways