Smew at Last!

08.15- 10.15 from The Point Dungeness:

Wigeon: 1 down

Red-throated Diver: 9 down.     4 up

Great-crested Grebe: c100 off shore

Fulmar: 26 down    2 up

Gannet: 131 down

Cormorant: many present n/c

Caspian Gull: the regular 1w bird

Kittiwake:  184 down

Guillemot c200 around

A late morning visit to The Patch saw little of note avian wise though the hide is now in a very precarious position.

I'd like to say that the above image was the view I had today of the Lade drake Smew, unfortunately the image below was the view I had as the local farmer flushed it as he walked along the far bank. The above image was taken from Scott hide in 2015. While I was at Lade the Slavonian Grebe showed well on the north lake but I missed the Long-tailed Duck that was still present. 

 Drake Smew at Lade today

Slavonian Grebe on a windswept Lade North

1w Little Gull at the fishing boats this afternoon

This afternoon at the fishing boats many Gulls were present but nothing unusual among them except the 1w Caspian Gull and 1w Little Gull. Offshore the sea was littered with Guillemots Great-crested Grebes and Cormorants.

Late afternoon on the reserve one of the Long-eared Owls was showing very poorly as was the 1w Glaucous Gull which hid behind it's roosting island.