As I drove to The point this morning the 3 Cattle Egrets were in there favoured Horse Paddock with a Little Egret. At the southern end of the ARC a Great White Egret was stalking its prey.
Ring Ouzels
I joined AJG and BB in the sea watch hide this morning where we could barely see the bouy in the dense fog, in an hours watching just 2 Mediterranean Gulls were noted.
A look in the lighthouse garden saw 3 Redwing, a couple of Chiffchaffs, a Blackcap and a Firecrest. Walking around The Moat we disturbed at least 10 Song Thrushes, we made our way out to the trapping area and Desert seeing more Song Thrushes, Redwings and Reed Buntings, then came across a flock of at least 36 Fieldfare and 2 Ring Ouzels, later in the morning I came across a single Mistle Thrush which made the clean sweep of all the Thrushes, probably the first time I have done this at Dungeness. A 2nd calendar year Marsh Harrier flew down to the lighthouse, circled it then flew back inland, 6+ Swallows flew north, I managed to see 3 Common Redstarts today, 2 Wheatears and a Hare.
Mistle Thrush
A distant Common Redstart, one of 3 seen today
I was enjoying a cup of tea with Dave Bunney at his house with Owen, when the local Gulls went ballistic, the three of us dashed outside to see a White Stork loom out of the fog and drift towards the power station then back again, it spent 30 minutes circling The Point in the fog, before disappearing towards Littlestone, fortunately on one of its circuits it flew just a few feet over our heads.
15.30-16.15 with JTM at the fishing boats, visibility was severely limited by the fog:
Teal: 4E
Red-throated Diver: 1E
Great-crested Grebe: 9 on
Gannet: 19E 5W
Cormorant: c30 around
Curlew: 1E
Arctic Skua: 2E
Sandwich Tern: 6E. 4W
A late afternoon visit to Dennis's Hide saw this smart Yellow-legged Gull roosting with Great Black-backed Gulls, pity it was so far away as this image does not do it justice.
My first Herald of the year
1 of 2 Twin-spotted Quakers in the MV today
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