Spoonbill

Went straight to The Patch this morning, on the walk there 100s of House Martins and Sand Martins with a few Swallows seemed to be coasting west, there were 2 Wheatears and 6 Chiffchaffs on the perimeter fence, on the way back 2 Ravens were upsetting the local feral Pigeons.  At The Patch a single Black Tern, 1 Little Gull, 4+ Arctic Terns and 30+ Common Terns with the usual Gulls.

A plod around the Lighthouse, Station Gorse, The Desert, Lloyds and West Beach saw 35 Chiffchaffs, 6 Blackcaps, 5 Common Whitethroats, 6 Wheatears, c100 Meadow Pipits and c100 Linnets.

At the south end of the ARC the Pectoral Sandpiper with 3 Ruff and a Bar-tailed Godwit.

From the Screen just 2 Little Stints as reed cutting work was being carried out in front of Hanson.  

Spoonbill from Firth in the rain this evening.

This afternoon from Hanson where excellent views of the islands can now be obtained thanks to the hard work of the volunteers. 2 Little Stints with 14 Dunlin, 40+ Golden Plover and a Black-necked Grebe were the highlights.
This evening on Burrowes in the driving rain a Spoonbill was new in, the Pectoral Sandpiper had relocated to Firth and from Makepeace 4 Black-necked Grebes and a Black Tern.

Quiet on the sea!

En route to The Point first thing this morning I stopped at the south end of the ARC where the Pectoral Sandpiper was happily feeding and was still there this evening.

Sea watching from the concrete road was poor, so myself and AJG made our way to The Patch. Along the perimeter fence 5 Black Redstarts, 4 Wheatears and c30 Linnets. 

Over The Patch 7+ Black Terns, 3+ Arctic Terns and 2 Little Gulls among the Common Terns and Black-headed Gulls. Offshore 2+ Arctic Skuas and a Few Gannets.

Pectoral Sandpiper at the south end of the ARC

Around the reserve of note 3 Ruff, 3 Black-necked Grebes, a Great White Egret, a Peregrine, 2+Hobby's, 2+ Marsh Harriers, up 7 Common Buzzards, 6 Common Whitethroats, a Whinchat and still good numbers of Sand Martins.
In couple of visits to the ARC 150+ Golden Plover, 9 Black-tailed Godwits, 2 Greenshanks, 6 Ruff, a Hobby, 15+ Dunlin and a Little Stint. In the bushes a few Chiffchaffs.
An afternoon visit to Pigwell was disappointing even though the water levels look good for waders.
At Scotney still 14 Egyptian Geese, a 1000+ Greylags and 300+ Canada Geese not a pretty sight!

Another Sandpiper!

07.20-08.20 in the sea watch hide was a very long hour:

Gannet: 6E

Bar-tailed Godwit: 2W

Arctic Skua: 2 around

Sandwich Tern: 8 around

Commic Tern: c20 around

Black Tern: 1+ could be seen over The Patch

Swallow: c20 out

Meadow Pipit: c30 coasting

                                            Pectoral Sandpiper from Firth Hide

A text from AJG about a Pectoral Sandpiper on Burrowes thankfully put an end to a miserable sea watch. As I walked into Firth hide a few minutes later I got the inevitable you should have been here 30 seconds earlier its flown off!
We moved up to Makepiece hide and quickly relocated the Pectoral Sandpiper albeit distantly, though it did show fairly well  from Firth hide before it relocated to the ARC Pit. Also seen on Burrowes were 3 Black-necked Grebes, a Little Gull, a Garganey, 2 Marsh Harriers, 2 Sparrowhawks, 3 Greenshank, 15 Black-tailed Godwits, a Bar-tailed Godwit, 5 Ruff, 15+ Dunlin, 3 Egyptian Geese and this evening 4 Little Stints at least 2 Merlins over the reserve, a Great White Egret but no sign of yesterdays peep.

Terns and Waders and another Peep?

Sea watch 06.15-08.15:

Shearwater sp: 3W (Manx or Balearic) 

Gannet: 77W

Bar-tailed Godwit: 4W 

Merlin: 2 in off

Arctic Skua: 22W

Kittiwake: 1W

Commic Terns: small number off shore

Sandwich Tern: 46W

A good selection of Terns at The Patch this morning:

Black Tern: 5

Little Tern: 1

Arctic Tern: 2+

Commic Tern: 75

Little Gull: 2

 At the ARC round the car park and the Tower Pits 10+ Blackcaps, 6 Lesser Whitethroats, 4 Common Whitethroats, 1 Willow Warbler, 20+ Chiffchaffs, 2 Reed Warblers, 2 Cetti's Warblers 4 Yellow Wagtails, a Hobby and 2 Marsh Harriers.
From Hanson a Black-necked Grebe, 20 Golden Plover, a little Stint, 2 Dunlin, 2 Common snipe, 2 Ruff and 2 Greenshank.
Dengemarsh Gully  found just 3 Chiffchaffs. On Dengemarsh 1 Great White Egret, 12 Pintail, 2 Marsh Harriers and 4 Yellow Wagtails of note.

 From Firth Hide this afternoon another good selection of waders:
Black-tailed Godwit: 29
Bar-tailed Godwit: 1
Ruff: 6
Greenshank: 4
Redshank: 1
Golden Plover: c50
Lapwing: c100
Common Snipe: 3
Little Stint: 3
Dunlin: 10+
Ringed Plover: 6+
Also 2+ Sparrowhawks, a Marsh Harrier and another Peep? (see below)

?????????

After the problems with Stints and Peeps lately, any one who is interested can make there own minds up on todays bird!  

Not the best weekend!

A lazy start on Saturday after a full English I went to the reserve. Not long after arriving news of a domestic disaster involving a washing machine took up most of my day and the early part of this morning.

Reg by the visitor centre

When I did get out this morning I was just settling myself in the Screen hide when a call from DW alerted me to an Ortolan Bunting found by SM and apparently seen very briefly early morning by SO. When I arrived the bird had gone missing  and after a while I wandered further down the Gully and stood with NB and CT scanning the scrub which held Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers and Blackcaps. I saw in the distance DW arrive in the company Mr Chidwick. Shortly after he arrived DW was indicating  that the bird was in front of him on the other side of the Gully, being at the far end of the Gully by the time I and NB along with CT arrived the bird had disappeared never to be seen again. (I'm sure Mr Chidwick tried to throw his scope at it lol).
With all 4 Skua's and Shearwaters being reported, I went down to the concrete road to stare at the sea and only managed 3 Arctic Skua's chasing Terns, probably the same 3 birds that have been around for several weeks. Another watch early evening in the rain saw the same Skua's with the addition of 36 Common Scoter going into Hythe bay.

Semi P reappears

 I joined AJG at The Point at 07.15, the look of boredom on his face said it all, after 15 minutes of seeing a couple of Arctic Skuas that have been around for several days beating up a couple of Sandwich Terns, we headed for the observatory. On arrival we were told a Pied flycatcher had been ringed but little else.
I made my way to the reserve centre and wandered up to Firth hide and found BP already there. From the hide 7 Ruff, a Bar-tailed Godwit, a Greenshank, 2 Common Snipe, 4 Dunlin, 2 distant Little Stints and 3 Sedge Warblers in front the hide. We were joined by a Sandwich Bay birder and The Joker We all moved to Makepiece where the birder from Sandwich Bay relocated the 2 Little Stints, I started to scope the island for the Stints and the first bird I saw was the Semipalmated Sandpiper in the company of 2 Little Stints. We quickly put the news out and the bird showed almost continually albeit distantly (so no pictures) till about 14.30 when all 3 birds disappeared. 2 Black-necked Grebes were also visible from Makepiece.
At lunch time from Plodland 6 Yellow Wagtails over, 30+ Meadow Pipits and a Hobby.
After lunch I went to Hanson where 2 Garganey, a Black-necked Grebe, 11 Black-tailed Godwits and 2 Ruff could be seen. From there back to the reserve where I learned the the Semi P had gone missing. Fortunately PT of http://ploversblog.blogspot.co.uk/ relocated it on the ARC pit from the Screen Hide. I made my way there and while there got a call from DW, who was in Firth hide that he was watching a very distant Osprey that was over The Pilot PH. As the screen hide looks directly in that direction I managed to find the Osprey being heavily mobbed, it did eventually come a little closer but appeared to move off west.
The Semi P was still present from the screen hide at 17.30 when I left.
   

Around the area!

Sea Watch from the fishing boats with AJG and DW 07.00-09.00

Gannet 64 E

Teal 5 W

Wigeon 13 E

Scoter 2 W

Ringed Plover 2 in

Dunlin 1 in

Curlew 2 E

Turnstone 4 W

Arctic Skua 14 W

Arctic tern 1 W

Common tern 6 W

Sandwich Tern 34 W

Auk Sp 4 W

Hobby 1 in

Wheatear: 1 on beach

Swallow 7 E

Sand Martin 2 E

Grey Wagtail 3 over

Meadow Pipit 3 over

At the south end of the ARC of note:

Black-necked Grebe: 2 

Ruff: 5 

Greenshank: 2 

Yellow Wagtail: 2

Sand Martin: c300 over the lake

At Galloways with MH and BP: of note

Whinchat: 9

Wheatear: 1

Stonechat: 2

The ARC from Hanson: of note

Black-necked Grebe: 2

Little Egret: 4

Hobby: 1

Black-tailed Godwit: 9

Dunlin: 2

Common Snipe: 1

Golden Plover: c50

Marsh Harrier: 1

Cetti's Warbler: 2

On  Burrowes Pit: of note

Great White Egret: 1

Little Egret: 2

Hobby: 2

Marsh Harrier: 1

Ruff: 3

Common Snipe: 2

Greenshank: 1

Bar-tailed Godwit: 1

Dunlin: 12

Ringed Plover: 4

Golden Plover: c30

One again The Midrips looked so good yet delivered little:

Culew: 3 

Dunlin: 11

Sanderling: 1

Ringed Plover: 8

Golden plover: c20 on shingle ridge

Hobby: 1

Sandwich Tern: 3

Scotney still holds the 2 Ruddy Shelduck, the Egyptian Geese along with 100s of Greylags and Canada Geese.

This afternoon From The Fishing Boats 13.45-15.45 with DW:

Common Scoter: 10W

Whimbrel: 1 in

Dunlin: 3 on beach

Ringed Plover: 1 on beach

Arctic Skua: 10W  6E

Kittiwake: 2W

Little Gull : 1 the usual bird

Guillemot: 2W

Auk sp: 7W

No Counts mad of Gannet, Sandwich Terns and commic Terns.

Arctic Skua from the fishing boats

Deja Vu!

Yesterday morning in the rain, I was in Firth hide when a small wader appeared in front of me. I fired off a few quick shots in the gloom and it flew to a distant island then disappeared. I thought it was probably a Stint but had some suspicions about it. After a while the rain stopped, the bird had not reappeared so I went sea watching and  completely forgot about it.

When I got home in the evening I downloaded the days pictures to my laptop while I ate my dinner.

After dinner I started looking at the pictures. As the first one opened I uttered an expletive and quickly sent a couple of shots to DW and phoned him to let him know they were coming. He shortly called me back and was calm and more or less speechless, but my ears were definitely burning with what he wanted to call me.  

This morning I went to Firth Hide as soon as the gate opened finding 2 of the locals already there. They had seen a Stint on a distant island but had lost it in the poor light. Fortunately I relocated the bird quite quickly and put the news out that there was a Semipalmated Sandpiper there. 

The bird showed quite well on and off all day but never really close and was quite mobile.

Semipalmated Sandpiper with Dunlin

 Other birds seen from Firth were 5 Ruff, 8+ Ringed Plover, 14+ Dunlin, a Greenshank, 50+ Golden Plover, 5 Common Snipe, a Black Tern, a Black-necked Grebe, 2+Hobbys, 2 Marsh Harriers, 8 Little Egrets and a Great White Egret. Also 2 Spoonbills flew west OL,DW.

Semipalmated Sandpiper alighting

 The south end of the ARC held a Little Stint and another Black-necked Grebe, from Hanson 10 Black-tailed Godwits, 2 Ruff and 2 Garganey of note.

Palmations visible

The following Limerick is courtesy of The Joker!

There once was a birder named Plod
Found a wader that seemed very odd
His claimed Little Stint
That had made his eyes glint
Was a Semi P- the clever old sod!

Dungeness Tick

Sea watching from the hide this morning was very slow: 2 Arctic Skuas chasing Terns,1+ Black and 2 Arctic Terns over The Patch and 3 Common Scoter east.

Little change to the birds on the ARC and reserve.

Scotney still hosts 2 Ruddy Shelduck and 14 Egyptian Geese at the Kent end.

Scotney, Burrowes, The ARC and New Diggings all held 200+ Sand Martins.

 From the fishing boats this afternoon with DW,PT,RS: 16+ Arctic Skuas, 2 Arctic Terns, a Little Gull and a few Sandwich and Common Terns. Also a Sanderling flew west but bird of the day was a Purple Sandpiper that flew past us and landed on the beach and posed for the camera during a squall. It eventually flew back east past us. This is a very scarce bird at Dungeness and the first I have seen there.

The one that got away!

4 Grey Herons flew south at 08.00 approx

08.30-09.30 very slow this morning:

Fulmar: 1W

Common Scoter: 3E

Arctic Skua: 1W

Bonxie: 1w

Little Gull: 1 at The Patch

Black Tern: 3 at the Patch

Sand Martin : 35 S

Tree Pipit: 1 S my first of the year!

Wheatear: 2 on beach

At the South end of the ARC just the Black-necked Grebe of note.

Midday from Hanson 3 Curlew and 4 Dunlin among the Lapwing and Golden Plover.

Little Gull

 14.00-15.30 from the fishing boats:
Common Scoter: 8E
Wigeon: 2E
Redshank: 2W
Knot: 8W
Grey Plover: 1W
Turnstone: 12 on beach
Commic Tern: 22W
Sandwich Tern: 158W
Little Gull: 2W
Arctic Skua: 6W
Grey Seal and 3+Harbour Porpoises off shore

Common Tern

3 Harbour Porpoises

This evening on the reserve 12 Dunlin, 2 Redshank, 3 Ruff, 6 Ringed Plover, 1 Little Ringed Plover and 1 Common Sandpiper.
While I was in Makepiece with BM an unseen presumed large raptor put up everything all over the reserve. c200 Sand Martins balled up high over Burrowes, most the duck and waders on Burrowes took flight, c200 Greylag Geese with same number of duck were flushed from Dengemarsh along with a Great White Egret at the same time. Despite both of us leaving the hide and scanning all round the culprit could not be seen. Probably another missed Osprey!