A Quiet Day

The Patch Hide still being built

 At The Patch this morning of interest just the 1 Arctic Tern among the c40 Common Terns, 306 Swallows out in 10 minutes and 4+ Harbour Porpoises. The track to the hide held 3 Wheatears, 2 Black Redstarts and c25 Linnets.

View from the top of The Moat

Most of the morning was spent around the obs skywatching where 7 Sparrowhawks, 2 Peregrines, 3 Marsh Harriers, a Common Buzzard and steady stream of Swallows with a few Sand Martins were seen.
In couple of visits to ARC pit highlights were 2 Avocet, 70+ Golden Plover, 2 Common Sandpipers 1 Little Stint, 1 Turnstone, 1 Black-tailed Godwit, 5 Garganey and 2 Marsh Harriers. Also 6+ Willow Warblers in the bushes.
At Scotney c150 Golden Plover, 2 black-tailed Godwits, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 2 Curlews and 20+ Yellow Wagtails.
Dengemarsh Gulley held 7 Wheatears, 2 Common Whitethroats, 4 Willow Warblers and 10+ Yellow Wagtails.

Roseate Tern

 

First stop this morning The Patch where almost the first bird I picked out was a fine adult Roseate Tern. Before I could get to the waters edge with the camera it moved off east but apparently returned an hour later. Also there 3+ Arctic Terns among the Common Terns but no Black Terns or Little Gulls. On the track to The Patch 5+ Wheatears.

 In the lighthouse garden a single Willow Warbler another at West beach with 2 Chiffchaffs, 2 more Chiffchaffs in the station gorse and 10+ Willow Warblers around The Moat. In The Desert 4 more Willow Warblers, 3 Whinchats, 4 Common Whitethroats, a Marsh Harrier and constant trickle of Swallows south.

 On the reserve at Boulderwall 3 Marsh Harriers, 10+ Tree Sparrows, 2 Whinchats and the Great White Egret at Dengemarsh.

 On the ARC from Hanson a little Gull, 3 Little Stints, 8 Knot, 1 Black-tailed Godwit, 7 Dunlin, 100+ Lapwing, 5 Garganey, a Sandwich Tern and 7 Little Egrets. In the bushes around the pit 10+ Willow Warblers and a Great Spotted Woodpecker, also the Swallows still trickling through.

An hour this afternoon at the fishing boats found the usual Common and Sandwich Terns off shore feeding being harassed by 2 Arctic skuas, the adult Yellow-legged Gull was on the beach, also 22 Greylag Geese flew south unfortunately for the french hunters 5 minutes later they came back in 

A few migrants



At The Patch this morning highlights were 6 Black Terns, 2 Arctic Terns, 1 Little Gull, and 1 Juv Mediterranean Gull among the Common Terns and Black Headed Gulls, very few large gulls present this morning.

Around the bushes and The Desert 8 Wheatears, 4 Whinchats, 1 Spotted flycatcher, 12 Common Whitethroats, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Reed Warbler, 2 Willow warblers and 2 Chiffchaffs. Also seen some miniscule Autumn Ladies Tresses. 



 

Autumn Ladies Tresses

 At the ARC from Hanson 5 Avocet, 5 Knot, 8 Dunlin, 4 Little Stints, 50+ Golden Plover among the many Lapwing, 5 Garganey, 2 Marsh Harriers and 1 Hobby.

Back to reality

A midday visit to the ARC Pit found 4 Little Stints, 10+ Dunlin, 9 Knot, 1 Black-tailed Godwit, 20+ Golden Plover, a Garganey and 200+ Sand Martins.
The point was very quiet with a few Willow Warblers, 2 Common Whitethroat and a Lesser Whitethroat.
A late afternoon Spotted Redshank twitch on the reserve was successful and shows how desperate things are.

Cap Gris Nez 31/08/2012

Sea watching from Cap Gris Nez

I picked TG and CP up at around 03.00 to get the 04.25 ferry to Callais, then a short drive to Cap Gris Nez get settled for a brilliant sea watch at 07.00. 

Long-tailed Skua

 07.00-12.00:
Red-throated Diver: 1
Manx Shearwater: 2
Sooty Shearwater:6
Fulmar: 43
Gannet: 2000+
Shelduck: 1
Wigeon: 8
Pintail: 1
Teal: 9
Common Scoter: 129
Bat-tailed Godwit: 174
Oystercatcher: 4
Ringed Plover: 27
Turnstone: 2
Pomarine Skua: 7
Arctic Skua: 126
Long-tailed Skua: 14
Great Skua: 209
Mediterranean Gull: 6
Little Gull: 3
Kittiwake: 64
Black Tern: 3
Little Tern: 2
Common Tern: 4000+
Sandwich Tern: N/C
Rock Pipit: 1

After the sea watch we looked at couple of other sites (Le Slack, Cap Blanc Nez, and Oye Plage)
Passerines were very thin on the ground. As we were approaching Oye Plage TG spotted 2 birds moving towards us across the field. He thought at first that they might be raptors, in a quick glance (I was driving) I thought they might be juvenile Gulls, as they approached it was obvious they Long-tailed Skuas and gave us the best views we have ever had as they came overhead and away across the field the other side of the road.
On the beach at Oye Plage 7 more Arctic Skuas were seen as well as a superb Pomarine Skua, but no Kentish Plovers could be found.
 Pity about P & O cancelling our ferry home, a great day out eventually arriving home at 01.45.

Cattle Egret

The Point this morning seemed fairly quiet with the Terns and Gannets seemingly tooing and froing feeding off shore.
A call from BP had me moving rapidly onto the reserve to see a Cattle Egret on Burrowes. The Egret was with 7 Little Egrets and they all promptly took off as I arrived and landed out of sight behind an Island. In the hour or so waiting in Dennis hide for the Egret to appear 30+ Knot flew through, 12+ Turnstone, 10+ Dunlin, 1 Common Sandpiper, 2 Hobbys, 1 Peregrine, 1 Raven and 2 Marsh Harriers were also seen. Eventually the Cattle Egret took off with a Little Egret and flew to Dengemarsh.

After driving to Dengemarsh and walking round the hay field, the Great white Egret was seen along with several Yellow Wagtails while the Cattle Egret was vey mobile moving all over Dengemarsh.
The Little Owl was on the chicken sheds at Dengemarsh and a Black tern was on Bretts Marina.
At Scotney 200+ Golden Plover and common Sandpiper.

 

Osprey

A little Owl on the derelict buildings opposite Romney Farm on my way to Dungeness.
An hour at The Point this morning was relatively interesting with:
Balearic Shearwater: 1E
Fulmar: 3E
Gannet: 173W  36E
Common Scoter: 8E  2W
Kittiwake: 3W + 2 juvs off shore
Common Terns: 213W
Arctic Tern: 2W
Sand Martin: 5 out
Harbour Porpoise: 4+ off shore
At the obs DB told me that a Spotted flycatcher was in The Moat the first of the autumn for me. I had just located it when I got a call from BP about an Osprey heading my way over Burrowes. From the top of The Moat DB located it near the power station, we tracked as it disappeared on the seaward side of the power station by the explosion of Herring gulls. Also in The Moat 2 Willow Warblers and 3+ Common Whitethroats. DW had a Pied flycatcher in the trapping area.
At the ARC 3 Knot, 6+ Dunlin, 5+ Ringed Plover, 3+ Common Sandpipers, 1 Black-tailed Godwit, 20+ Golden Plover, 2+ Garganey, a Hobby and a Peregrine.  
 

Bits and Pieces

At The Patch this morning 2 Little Gulls, 1 Arctic Tern and 1 Black Tern probably the same birds that have been there for while.

At the ARC in the company of MH a Cormorant on the small pool by the track to Hanson with something large in its throat that it was trying to disgorge. From Hanson 20+ Dunlin, 3+ Common Sandpipers, 6+ Ringed Plovers, 1 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Greenshank, 1 Wood Sandpiper which made the day for MH, also 2 Marsh harriers, 2+ Garganey, several Yellow Wagtails, a Hobby and a Ruff at the south end.

At Brett's marina a Black Tern and several Yellow Wagtails and Whinchat at Dengemarsh.
A Plod along Scotney GP found 100+ Yellow Wagtails 200+ Golden plover, 3 Common Sandpipers, 2 Marsh Harriers also 2 Bar headed Geese among the 100s of Greylags.
Late this afternoon at The Midrips the juvenile Monty's still present along with 2 Marsh Harriers lots of  Dunlin and Ringed Plovers, 1 Knot, 8 Wheatears, more Yellow Wagtails, a steady trickle of Sand Martins and Swallows moving west. On the shore 40+ each of Sandwich and Common Terns.
 

Long-tailed Skua's

Due to domestic duties this morning I missed most of probably the best sea watch so far this year.
When I finally arrived at the fishing boats I was given a some what sarcastic round of applause from some of my kind hearted friends, who informed me with some glee of 10 Long-tailed Skua's, 100+ Arctic Skua's, 300+ Black Terns, 10+ Balearic Shearwaters with a supporting cast of Pomarine and Great Skua's and much more. If this was not bad enough my arrival coincided with an almost complete cessation of the seabird passage and most observers leaving (always a bad sign).
I stuck it out for a couple of hours and ended up seeing:
Balearic Shearwater: 2W
Gannet: 53W
Common Scoter: 29W
Ringed Plover: 13W
Arctic Skua: 9W
Long-tailed Skua: 1W
Black Tern: 17W
Common Tern: 161W
Guillemot: 1 on sea
Harbour Porpoise: 4+ off shore
On a normal day a really good sea watch but not a patch on what I missed, I still feel cheated and I'm sure my good friends wont let me forget. (The B*******)

Plodding Around and Water Rail first for me

The Midrips

Thinking that Dungeness would be swamped with visitors this morning I decided to go to The Midrips for a quiet morning. The pools held a few waders 156 Dunlin, 72 Ringed Plover, 4 Common Sandpipers, 3 Curlew, 1 Knot, 1 Sanderling, 40+ Golden Plover over, 4 Wheatears and a steady westerly passage of Sand Martins. Last Thursday evening CT had rung me about a Ring Tail Harrier he had seen there, but as we had seen a Ring Tail Hen Harrier close by that afternoon left it at that.

Hen Harrier
 

 As I made my way along the sea wall I had to brief distant views of a Harrier which looked to me like Hen Harrier. Shortly after CT caught up with me and we sat on the sea wall by the third pool. After while a Harrier was seen distantly being chased by a Sparrowhawk towards Galloways where it disappeared. Shortly another Harrier was seen coming from that direction and eventually flew quite close and was definitely a Hen Harrier. As we watched it hunting round the back of the pools another very gingery Harrier came in a juvenile Montagu's Harrier. The bird appeared to be catching what we assume were Dragonflys and taking them back to the bank to consume them, which it did on at least a dozen occasions. While watching the Harrier we also saw a Hobby, Merlin, Kestrel and a Marsh Harrier. Nearby at Scotney GP 100+ Golden Plover and 60+ Yellow Wagtails.

A very poor distant record of Juvenile Montagu's Harrier

 A visit to the ARC Pit found 1 Ruff and 1 Common Sandpiper at the south end. From Hanson 26 Dunlin, 14 Ringed Plover, 3 Common Sandpipers, 2 Little Ringed Plovers, 1 Black Tailed Godwit and 3+ Garganey.

Water Rail Chick

 A text from SB about some Water Rail chicks at Scott hide was irresistable as I have never seen the chicks before. Fortunately as soon as I arrived on site 2 chicks were showing through the reeds. A brilliant first for me.