Snow Buntings

1 of 12+ very flighty Snow Buntings on The Point today

 Sea watching from the fishing boats 08.00-10.00:
R T Diver: 6E & 2W & 2 on sea                Kittiwake: 21E & 24W
G C Grebe: 30+ on sea                               Y L Gull: 1 on beach
R N Grebe: 1W                                           2w Glaucous Gull on beach
Gannets: 357E                                            Great Skua: 3W & 1E                                           
Brent Geese: 34E & 71W                           Pomarine Skua: 1W                           
Shelduck: 4W                                             Auks: 48E & 120W
Wigeon: 5W                                               Starling: 800+ in off sea
Teal: 50W                                                  Goldfinch: 600+ overhead
Eider: 3E & 1W all adult drakes                Siskin: 6+ overhead
C Scoter: 17E & 256W                              Redpoll: 1+ overhead
Goldeneye: 1W                                          Snow Bunting 5 + 7 in off sea
Peregrine: 1 hunting off shore                    Swallow: 1E
Sanderling: 3E

Just along the coast at West Hythe the Rough-legged Buzzard was showing well but distantly. The gloomy weather not helping photography.

Excellent Sea Watch

When I arrived at the fishing boats at 08.15 TG was there. The following is our combined sightings from 07.00-13.45:
R T Diver: 6                                      Little Gull: 2
Gannets: c250                                    Med Gull: 2
G L Geese : 250                                 Glaucous Gull: 1
Brent Geese: 1978                             Y L Gull: 1
Shelduck: 36                                      Kittiwake: 117
Mallard: 12                                        Great Skua: 12
Pintail: 14                                           Pomarine Skua: 7
Wigeon: 455                                       Arctic Skua: 3
Shoveller: 32                                      Auks: 691
Teal: 233                                            Skylark: 19
Pochard: 4                                          Blackbird: 65 See pics below.
C Scoter: 283                                     Redwing: 19
Goosander: 17 in one flock                Fieldfare: 38
R B Merganser: 88                            Song Thush: 3
Curlew: 2                                           Starling: 999
Knot: 2                                               Goldfinch: 600
Sanderling: 8                                      Redpoll: 1
Dunlin: 18                                          Lapland Bunting: 3
Lapwing: 71                                       Snow Bunting: 3 in one flock

Lapland Bunting came in landed briefly then off again

NO CHANCE!

First Attack

Second attack

Third attack

Final attack



All over

Damp morning on Walland

Spent the best part of a wet morning at various stops around Walland Marsh with RP and CT looking for the Pallid Harrier without success. But we did see 3+ Marsh Harriers, 1 Common Buzzard, 1 Rough-legged Buzzard, 2 Common Cranes, 3 Corn Buntings, 3 Yellowhammers, 30+ Skylarks, Cetti's Warbler and Water Rail were heard and small party of Crossbills were also heard over head with a Redpoll and Siskin, good numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing, several Mistle Thrushes and 20+ Tree Sparrows at the usual spots.

Record shot from Hanson Hide 

At the ARC Pit 20+ Tree Sparrows in the car park bushes, on the pit the Long-tailed Duck kept its distance, 3+ Goldeneye and the usual wildfowl, 2+ Water Rail were squealing, 2 Marsh Harriers, a Bittern flew past the hide and 25 Golden Plover dropped in.

Pallas's Surprise

08.00-10.00 from the fishing boats: R.T.Diver 1, Gannet 171, Brent Geese 48, Shelduck 3, C Scoter 8, Kittiwake 94, Arctic Tern 2, Sandwich Tern 1, Y L Gull 1, Glaucous Gull and Goldfinch c4000.

When i went in to Hanson hide 3 other birders at the far end were watching and photographing tits in the bushes, so I settled down to scan the pit and islands from the front of the hide, after a few minutes I overheard one of the other birders say its a Firecrest as it has a bright eye stripe. Thinking I may get some good pics of the crest I walked to their end of the hide and they pointed out the bird, to my surprise there was a superb Pallas's Warbler which they had been watching since before I arrived at the hide not realising what it was. Also present on the pit 3+ Goldeneye and a Long-tailed Duck.

 News this afternoon that at West Hythe just a short drive away the Rough-legged Buzzard was showing. As soon as I arrived I saw the bird distantly and fortunately had better views later on though the light was failing.

Leach's Petrel

Sea watching at The Point 08.00- 13.00 was quite productive with the following totals. 

R T Diver: 5 

B T Diver: 2

Leach's Petrel: 1

Gannet: 457

Brent Geese:99

Wigeon: 1

Common Scoter: 120

R B Merganser: 19

Sanderling: 4

Dunlin: 5

Knot: 1

Curlew: 5

Great Skua: 1

Little Gull: 3

Kittiwake: 442

Med Gull: 1

Y L Gull: 1

Glaucous Gull: 1

Common Tern: 1

Auks: 381

Black Redstart on roof of visitor centre

On The Reserve 2 Black Redstarts by the visitor centre. On Dengemarsh the Great White Egret, 2 Marsh Harriers, 5 Golden Plover, 10 Dunlin, 1 Little Stint and 3 Swallows over.

Dull end to October

Very quiet on the sea and around the point today with 4 Swallows out, c400 Goldfinches with a few Redpoll and Siskins over. 2 Black Redstarts and a Stonechat by the experimental station.
A plod around the Water Tower Pits was even less productive apart from a few Crests, 2 Marsh Harriers and flushing a Bittern.
Once again Dengemarsh Gully was virtually devoid of bird life.
At Scotney 640 Golden Plover and the feral flock of Barnacle Geese and Emperor Geese, 2 Stonechats and 1 Marsh harrier.
Mid afternoon from the Woolpack 3 Marsh Harriers and a flock of 150 Fieldfare.

A slow dreary day

From the fishing boats this morning a slow 1.5 hrs with highlights of 4 Red-throated Divers, 1 Bonxie, 193 Gannets, 97 Great Crested Grebes, 15 Swallows out, 1 Rock Pipit, 275 Goldfinches, a few Auks, Brent Geese, Scoter, Siskins and the adult Yellow-Legged Gull on the beach.

The only bird that gave it self up.

Round the Lighthouse a Black Redstart, 2 Skylarks, 1 Stonechat, 175 Goldfinches and a Merlin.
An hour spent at Galloways produced only 1 Kestrel, 2 Skylarks, 1 Stonechat and a few Meadow Pipits.
Dengemarsh Gully appeared to be devoid of bird life.

YBW

With very little movement on the sea half an hour at the fishing boats was enough. In that time 1 Bonxie, 2 Red-throated Divers, 1 Common Tern, a few Kittiwakes, Scoter and Gannets, also a Grey Seal and a few Porpoises. 

 At the Obs a Yellow-Browed Warbler was trapped along with Lesser and Common Redpolls. The YBW was seen a couple of times after release into The Moat.

Around the trapping area and Moat 6+ Firecrests, 6+ Goldcrests, 4 Blackcaps, 3 Chiffchaff, 2 Ravens, several hundred Goldfinches overhead mixed with Redpolls and Siskin. Blackbirds, Song Thrushes and Robins were more conspicuous today.

Pallas's makes the day

This morning from the fishing boats was the first time for a few weeks that no Skuas or Shearwaters were recorded. Highlights were 2 Merlin with another at lunch time, 1 Arctic Tern, 1 Black-throated Diver, 4 Red-Throated Divers, a trickle of Auks, Kittiwakes and Gannets and a few hundred Goldfinches over.

Pallas's Warbler

Pallas's Warbler

Pallas's Warbler

In the trapping area a Yellow Browed Warbler popped up and was gone before i got the camera on it. Also seen there 2 Blackcaps, 1 Chiffchaff and a few Redpolls and Siskins.
Dengemarsh gully was devoid of birds except for 1 Merlin. The Great White Egret  was on Dengemarsh.
Galloways was open this afternoon but only held 2 Stonechats and another Merlin.
At Scotney 70+ Golden Plover and little else. While I was there DW alerted me to a Pallas's Warbler that had been seen by Hookers Pit. In a few minutes I was there with a small gathering of birders but Pallas's. As it began to get dark just before 17.00 there was only Barry and myself left and with little help from Xeno Canto the  Pallas's appeared allowing me to take some terrible images at 1600 ISO. On the way back to the car we flushed a Ring Ouzel.

Common Redpolls

As doubts have been raised over Common Redpolls trapped at Dungeness recently, please look at the Dungeness Bird Observatory web site to hopefully allay these doubts.