168 and the Poms are still running

Dungeness 06.45-10.00 (Under orders again)

18 More Poms today along with 2 Arctic Skuas, 1 Black Tern, 6 Little Terns, 78 Commics, 2 Shovellor, 2 Pintail,  44 Common Scoter, 3 Barwits,  a Raven Cronking behind the beach, 3+ Harbour Porpoises and 5 Whimbrel over as i walked to the car. A walk round the Moat saw only 1 Willow Warbler, at the ARC Pit beach 1 Black Tern and 1 Little Ringed Plover.
In a great walk around Orlestone Forest this evening, apart from not seeing another person in 2.5hrs,   produced 6+ Nightingales, 6+ Garden Warblers, 4 Blackcaps, 3 Willow Warblers, 3 Chiffchaffs, 2 pairs of Mistle Thrushes,  8 Bullfinches, 1 Nuthatch, Great Spotted and Green Woodpeckers, Long-tailed, Coal, Great and Blue Tits and best of all a Turtle Dove Purring and doing its flight display

Purple end to the day

Seawatch at Dungeness 06.45-08.30 and 11.00-18.00

17 Pomarine Skuas, 3Arctic Skuas, 4 Black Terns, 430 Commic Terns, 5 Little Terns, 7 Black-throated Divers, 598 Common Scoter, 1 Eider, 4 Shelduck, 26 Knot, 41 Whimbrel, 25 Sanderling, 4 Med Gulls and few Gannets, Kittiwakes, Fulmars and Auks.

A look at the ARC Pit on the way home was productive, as I walked to the screen hide a Purple Heron flew in and landed on one the bushes infron the hide and remained there for about 20 minutes  then dropped into the reeds.

A rubbish pic of 11 of a flock of 13 Poms that were probably nearer the French coast

Poms still coming

Another good  seawatch (07.30-11.00) 18 Pomarine Skuas,(flock of 3 flying high above the horizon) 7Arctic Skuas, 24 Little Gulls, 3 Black Terns, 5 Black-throated Divers, 22 Brent Geese, 44 Little Terns, 485 Commic Terns, a superb close of 17 Velvet Scoters, 168 Common Scoter, 3 Shovellor, Wader numbers were much lower with only 4 Sanderling, 1 Barwit, 14 Whimbrel and 4 Curlew.  But normal numbers of the usual suspects Kittiwake,Fulmars, Gannets,  Sandwich Terns and Auks. A visit to the Pannel Valley early evening found 4 Garganey, 51 Avocets, 2 Little Ringed Plovers, 2 Common Sandpipers, 4 Barwits, 2 Common Snipe  but no Med Gulls breeding this year. The reed beds and sewer were full of Reed Warblers, Sedge Warblers, 6+ Cetti's Warblers, Bearded Tits calling  and a Water Rail Squealing.   

Dungeness and Walland

Arrived at the car park by the power station to be greeted by  this Whitethroat in full song. Walking out to the beach the local male Wheatear was singing on the power station wall. Started sea watching at 06.50- 0.900 As soon as i was settled the first of 8 Pomarine Skuas (1,3,2,1,1) powered its way past also seen  were 21 Little Gulls, 25 Little Terns, 78 Commic Terns, 27, Barwits, 29 Common Scoter, 1 Red-throated Diver, 4 Black Terns and the usual Gannets, Auks and Sandwich Terns off shore.  

A Visit to fishing boats found stubby tail still on the beach stuffing its self with putrid fish.   

On the Reserve both Purple Herons showed occasionally from the viewing ramp and the back of Hookers Pit, also seen 1 Bittern, 2 Bearded Tits, there were good numbers of Swifts, Sand Martins, House Martins and Swallows around, 2 Wheatears, 2 Yellow Wagtails, 1 Cuckoo and 3+ Hobbies.  

Next a visit to Scotney GP where there were still at least 400 Barwits,(several with colour rings) 100+ Whimbrel, 10 Grey Plover, 58 Knot, 2 Common Sandpipers, 1 Ruff and a Yellow Wagtail most the birds in there summer finery. A Peregrine put on a terrific show put everything up revealing all the waders that were hidden under the banks.  

A look around Walland Marsh found 6 Tree Sparrows by the feeders, A Little Owl showing well with a Corn bunting and 2 Red-leegged Partridges at Marsh Farm. A very good days birding

Magnificent Poms

 Another superb seawatch 07.25-11.05 included 38 Pomarine Skuas(5-10-4-1-5-5-5-2-1)1 Arctic Skua, 1 Velvet Scoter, 2 Black Terns, 3 Little Gulls, 8 Shovellor, 3 Teal, 45 Common Scoter, 1 Black Throated Diver, 116 Barwits, 88 Whimbrel, 12 Grey Plover, 3 Sanderling and a steadt passge of Auks, Gannets, Common Terns and Hiundines in off. 

Majestic Poms

 At the ARC Pit 4 Greenshank, 4 Knot, 3 Whimbrel, 5 Barwits, 2 Little Ringed Plovers, 2 Ringed Plover. Waders were dropping in and leaving each time i stopped there today.   

At the Midrips this afternoon 3 Curlew Sandpipers, 400+ Barwits dropping in and leaving as were 150+ Whimbrel. Nearby at Scotney GP many more Barwits and Whimbrel also dropping in and leaving. 

1 of 3 Curlew Sands at the Midrips today

North East wind still blowing

Whimbrel ARC Pit

Another four hours on the beach at Dunge was again productive. My only Pom of the day was flying by as i arrived. Also seen 4 Arctic Skuas, 4 Black-throated Divers, 5 Red-throated Divers, 1 Red-breasted Merganser, 4 Velvet Scoter,  85 Common Scoter, 412 Barwits, 1 Greenshank, 18 Grey Plover, 84 Knot, 39 Sanderling, 78 Whimbrel, 3 Curlew, 12 Turnstone, 6 Kittiwake, 4 Fulmars, 8 Little Terns, 2 Little Gulls, 2 Black Terns and flow of Common Terns, Sandwich Terns and Swallows. At  the ARC Pit from the road 4 Barwits, 1 Greenshank, 2 Grey Plover, 2 Whimbrel 2 Little Ringed Plovers and 4 Arctic Terns. A call from Bernard enabled me to see the Red-rumped Swallow this evening but i was unable to get any worth while pics. 

Another Pom day in the making

As i was under orders i could only spend 3 hours sea watching this morning. In that time i still saw 6 superb Poms, 6+ Velvet Scoter, 3+ Black Terns, hundreds of waders mainly Bar-tailed Godwits but also Whimbrel, Knot, Turnstone, Dunlin, Sanderling and Grey Plover, Oystercatchers, 100+ Common Scoter, 3 Red-breasted Mergansers,  1 Black-throated Diver, 2 Red-throated Divers another just off shore, a flock of 13 Shovelor, 12 Shelduck, 3 Teal, 20+ Little Terns, Common Terns , Sandwich Terns and Gannets moving through and feeding off shore, at least 1 Arctic Tern and few Guillemots off shore along with the near resident Harbour Porpoises,

Simply the best

Rubbish pics of magnificent Poms

Image of a memorable day

Had a lay in this morning thinking it wont happen today so did not arrive untill about 09.00 A big mistake. I stayed till 18.00, but missed the early rush of birds at least 16 poms, 5 Bonxies and a drake Long Tailed Duck. But i ended uphaving probably my best ever sea watch. Pride of place going to 61 Pomarine Skuas most with magnificent spoons including a flock of 19 that came past close in shore loping along majestically as only Poms do, i reached down for my camera only to realise that i had left it in the car. Any one who knows me, knows i never go any where with out it. B******s! All the other flocks were further out nearer the second Bouy. Bar-tailed Godwits were another superb feature of the day with in excess of 2500 majority in the afternoon (570 Between 1700-1730) Also seen 6 Arctic Skuas, 1 Bonxie, 200+ Common Scoter, 5 Velvet Scoter,2 Shovellor, 2 Garganey, 16 Shelduck, 3 Black-throated Divers, 3 Red-throated Divers, 150+ Little Terns, 1200+ Commic Terns only 4 of which i identified as Arctic (must try harder) mainly in the afternoon, 6 Black Terns, 100+ Whimbrel, 100+ Knot, 40+ Grey Plover, 12 Turnstone, 4 Dunlin, 2 Sanderling, 8 Fulmars, 4 Meditteranean Gulls, several small flotillas of Guillemots and 10+ Great Crested Grebes off shore, many Auk sp. and numerous Gannets and Kittiwakes past, a constant trickle of Swallows in off. The list does not do justice to a superb day.

Another Parrot

 In a sea watch this morning and another in the middle of the day 1500+ Bar-tailed Godwits with much smaller nubers of Whimbrel, Knot and Grey Plover, also 3 Arctic Skuas,4 Teal, 1 Garganey,a few Common Scoter , 2 Little Gulls, 6 Kittiwakes, 2 Red-Throated Divers, 5 Fulmars numerous Common Terns, Sandwich Terns and Gannets milling about off shore, 20+ Guillemots, a trickle of Swallows in off also a tatty Sarrowhawk and a Dungeness tick for me a Ring Necked Parakeet in th Lighthouse Garden (thanks Neil) last seen being chased round the power station by a Peregrine. At Denge Marsh the Purple Heron showed briefly twice in about 2 hours (Rubbish Pic) but whilst waiting  40+ Barwits and 2 Blackwits were on the marsh with more going over, also 2+ Hobbies, 2 Ravens, a Peregrine, 3+ Marsh Harriers, a Bittern flew by and was booming. At The |Midrips late afternoon a Curlew Sandpiper with 270 Barwits and another 250 feeding on the shore , 22 Avocets, 4 Greenshank and a Knot. At Scotney another 200+ Barwits with more arriving as i left.





 A couple of hours sea watch this morning was relatively productive with 3 Bonxies, 1 Arctic Skua, 1 Pomarine Skua, 6 Common Scoter, 2 Fulmars and smaller numbers than of late of Commic, Sandwich Terns and Gannets. Denge Marsh Road held 4 Wheatears, 4 Red-Legged Partridges, 3 Yellow Wagtails and good numbers of Sedge Warblers and Whitethroats.
An evening stroll in Orlestone Forest still had 4 Nightingales singing along with 3 Garden Warblers, 2 Willow Warblers, 2 Chiffchaffs, 4 Blackcaps and  3 Bullfinches despite the best efforts of morons roaring around on Quad Bikes.