Glaucous Gull and Yellow Browed Warbler brighten the day

A bitterly cold and dull start  at the point found the 1st Winter Glaucous Gull round the fishing boats that showed well for short time before flying off east. Off shore still mplenty of Great Crested Grebes and Gannets and 3 Red throated Divers. A Yellow Browed Warbler that had been seen in the trapping area was frustratingly mobile keeping to the inside of the Sallows and disappearing alltogether for long periods and with the appalling light hence the rubbish images . With the YBW were at least 5 Firecrests and a few Redpolls and Siskins over along with a brief appearance of a Merlin.

Wet at Pett

Spent most the morning at Pett trying to photograph the Grey Phalarope that spent most of the time in the middle of the pool. It wasn't until John King who had also been watching it for a couple of hours decided to go and look for the Velvet Scoters that it came close enough to photograph fortunately it was still quite close when he returned.  Also seen during the morning were 20+ Scoter off shore a Marsh Harrier hunting the reed beds and a couple of Cetti's Warblers singing.

Pesky Herring Gulls

 A still dreary morning at Dungeness. In the fields approaching the ARC  Pit the 3 Bewick Swans consorting with a few Mutes. On the pit 7 Ruddy Duck, 5 Goldeneye and all the usual duck. In the Willow Trail 2 Chiffchaffs and a Goldcrest with a Marsh Harrier over. From the mound brief views of a Bittern.
At the point with little or no visible migration thought i'd spend some time looking for a Caspian Gull amongst all the loafing gull flocks on the shingle. As usual failed again but this gull did stand out. Having a dark back similar to Yellow legged Gull but a fairly extensively dirty dark hood and neck. Unfortunately it was very skittish and flew off out to sea before i could get good photo's. (Probably gust a slightly darker bog standard Herring Gull)

Starlings and Chaffinches

 At the ARC Pit this morning in a biting North East wind there was obvious visible migration with dozens of small flocks of 25-200 Starlings  moving NW along with slightly smaller numbers of Chaffinches. In amongst the finches there were small numbers of Brambling, Redpoll and Siskin. The Willow Trail held 2 Chiffchaffs , 2 Redpollsand a single Goldcrest. From the hide The only extra to yesterday was a fine Drake Goldeneye.
There was a Yellow Legged Gull in the fishing boat roost and then the rain came.

Fabulous Bluetail

 First stop the Willow Trail at the ARC Pit. As i climbed the mound at the end a superb Bittern took off from just a few yards away and quickly disappeared behind the willows.(To slow with the camera). Returning to the hide  3 Redpolls dropped into the small birches but litte else. From the hide 3 Goldeneye, 3 Little Egrets and a Marsh Harrier along with the usual duck. Next stop the Fishing Boats where a Merlin steaked through and 2 Yellow -legged gulls were in the roost. A sweep of the sea revealed 92 Great Crested Grebes , 36 Gannets and a distant Auk Sp. Back to the ARC where i got a call from Geoff Gowlett asking what i knew about a Red-Flanked Bluetail at Dunge. Nothing i told him. A miute later he called back to to say it was at Denge Marsh and 5 minutes later i was watching a stunning Bluetail with Sussex so frustratingly close in the background. (Thanks Geoff) I spent most of the rest of the day wathing the Bluetail when it showed intermittently. The  Great White Egret also showed from time to time.

Another missed Pallas's at Dunge

 Spent the best part of the morning at the Willow Trail the drizzle in the  trying to photograph a very grey looking Chiffchaff but failed miserably as it always stayed deep in the bushes. A Firecrest was fairly obliging as were the numerous Goldcrests though the dark overcast conditions didn't lend it self to photography. 60+ Redpolls and 15 Siskins flew over. On the pit the Goldeneye had increased to 5 and another Ruddy Duck has appeared(No doubt soon to be shot by DEFRA). A Pallas's Warbler in the trapping area completetely eluded me along with most other birders (Thats 3 i've missed now) But there was at least 3 more Firecrests there and another 50+  Redpolls over also 6 Redwing and 2 Black Redstarts by the railway Station.

Bits and Pieces

Visited most the usual sites at Dungeness today starting at the ARC Pit where the best of the ducks was 3 Goldeneyeand not alot else. On to the board walk where there was 1 Arctic Tern, 40+ Kittiwake and 50+ Great Crested  Grebes on the sea.
Round the trapping area there was 2 Firecrests and a few Siskins over. Back to the ARC there was a Chiffchaff on the Willow Trail and 4+ Cetti's calling. At the back of the pit behind the water tower there was 1 Swallow, 4+ Marsh Harriers,1 Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Merlin.

A busy morning at The Point

No sign of the Penduline Tit this very cold  morning  but plenty of overhead migration. Consisting of mainly Finches and Thrushes and Pipits. My totals in 3.5 hrs around the point. 200+ Goldfinches, 400+ Chaffinches, 32 Greenfinches, 28 Brambling, 92 Siskin, 35 Redpoll, 2 Tree Sparrows, 200+ Meadow Pipits, 150+ Wood Pigeons, 48 Stock Doves, 22 Skylark, 1 Woodlark, 26 Golden Plover, 56 Fieldfare, 8 Redwing, 56 Jackdaws, 8 Swallows, 2 Sparrowhawks, 2 Marsh Harriers, 3+ Kestrels and 1 Common Buzzard also every bush seemed to have at least 1 Blackbird and Robin in it. A good morning but missed the 2 Waxwings.

Penduline Frustration

When i arrived at the ARC Pit the rain was lashing down and looked set to continue for the day. Made my way to Hansen Hide and found Ray Turley there on his own and for the next 1.5 hrs thats how it stayed. There was at least 4 marsh Harriers around and several Water Rails squealing in the Phragmites. A Kingfisher put in a brief appearance as did a Peregrine streaking across the pit. Waders were represented by 4 Black-tailed Godwits, 3 Dunlin 1 Snipe and 50+ Lapwing. All the usual duck were present along with the first 2 Goldeneye. Of interest 14 Long-tailed Tits came from high in the sky across the pit into the bushes by the hide.  When the sun came out i decided to do the bushes at the point which were very poor 1 Goldcrest, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker and a few Blue and Great Tits.On my way back to the car i got a message about the Penduline Tit which was showing very well infront of Hansen Hide apparently from about ten minutes after i left! By the time i got back it had disappeared back into the Phragmites but Ray kindly showed me the video of it on a Bullrush 20 feet from the hide(Swine). After another hour of watching it showed its self breifly deep in the reeds and  a Bittern gave an equally brief appearance. I'll try again tomorrow with a tape!

No wind no birds

A very calm Dungeness this morning filled me with optimism. A quick look in the lighthouse garden produced 1 Chiffchaff and 1 Goldcrest along with the resident birds. Then half hour looking at the sea came up with 2 distant Little Gulls, 6 Shelduck, 20 Common Scoter, 32 Brent Geese, 8 Kittiwake,  9 Turnstone, 1 Med Gull, 1 Red-throated Diver, 3 Sandwich Terns, a few distant Auks along with lots of Gannets loitering off shore.
Back on the land i spent 3 hours walking in the trapping area for scant reward just 6 Chiffchaff, 1 Firecrest, 3 Goldcrest, 1 Ring Ouzel, 8 Long-tailed Tits and a Great spotted Woodpecker, 8 Siskins, 26 House Martins and 100+ Swallows. The local Robins and Dunnocks were doing there best to become Bluetails alas it was not to be.