Whitefronts!

Another thoroughly dreary and cold day on the peninsular saw me at The Patch just after 07.00, where many 100s of Gulls were milling around the boil with another 1,000+ on the beach. I sat in the hide going through them but found nothing of note. (DW found a 1w Caspian Gull there late afternoon) There were at least 4 North Thames ringed Herring Gulls among them, also Great Black Backed Gull JZ202. After an hour the penetrating cold in the hide forced me to move. At the observatory 1+ Woodcock and a few thrushes were flushed from the moat just before I arrived. 

 JZ202 colour ringed Great Black Backed Gull

On the New Diggings a Black-necked Grebe was the highlight among the Coot and Tufted Duck. Over the road on the ARC 5+ Goldeneye were the pick of the bunch among the Shoveler and small number of Wigeon.

The staff have made a good job of repairing the track to the visitor centre so it was a pleasure to drive down Dennis's hide, despite the gloom and cold caused by the eclipse happening above the solid cloud cover. From the hide several 100s of Shoveler, a red head Smew, a Great White Egret and 2 Marsh Harriers were of note. Also there 100+ Gulls roosting on the submerged islands but nothing of note among them.

This afternoon on Hayfield 3 a Green Sandpiper briefly and 2 Ruff, 5 Redshank, 11 Dunlin, 4 Ringed Plovers including the colour ringed individual, 2 Lapwings, a Great White Egret and a Little Egret, it surely can't be long before a Garganey drops in. On the way to Scott hide several singing Cetti'sWarblers, a Green Woodpecker and a Bearded Tit of note.

Back at Springfield Bridge 2 White Wagtails and a Rock Pipit of note among a flock of Pied Wagtails, Meadow Pipits and Reed Buntings, while watching them a Bittern flew across Dengemarsh and a pair of Marsh Harriers grappled.

The 2 Cattle Egrets were in the fields around Brickwall Farm and a Raven fed on a dead Fox there.    

 Late afternoon at Scotney a flock of 29 White-fronted Geese flew in high from the south over the ranges, they circled the main lake for a few minutes before disappearing out towards Walland Marsh, looking at the the wing of one of them they may have run the gauntlet of the French guns. A few minutes later 4 more Whitefronts and a Barnacle Goose flew in high from the south and settled on the lake, also on there a Black-necked Grebe now reaching summer plumage.

Return to winter!

07.20-08.20 from the sea watch hide in a cold drizzly northerly wind.

Brent Goose: 54 E

Red-breasted Merganser: 5 E

Great-crested Grebe: 7 off shore

Red-throated Diver: 2 E

Gannet: 7 E

Oystercatcher: 1 E

Harbour Porpoise: 3+ o/s

An abysmal watch this morning, not surprisingly  I was on my own. 

It was definitely a day for doing those jobs that needed doing in doors.

 Yesterdays brief 1w Caspian gull

North Thames G3KT in the roost yesterday

Colour ringed Ringed Plover!

Another slow, cold sea watch this morning 06.10-08.10 from the sea watch hide, with BB and AJG who kindly collated the numbers:

Brent Goose: 241E

Shelduck: 1E

Teal: 2E

Shoveller: 13E

Common scoter: 12 E

Red-breasted Merganser: 3E

Red-throated diver: 14E

Oystercatcher: 22E

Peregrine: 1 around

Mediterranean Gull: 5 around

Black Redstart: 1 around 

The ARC and New diggings from the causeway yielded 3 Goldeneye of note among the small numbers of wildfowl that remain. Even the Marsh Harriers were keeping there heads down in today's bitterly cold northerly wind.

The main lake at Scotney saw little of note just the usual common wildfowl. The 2 Cattle Egrets were still frequenting the fields around Brickwall Farm.

Colour ringed Ring Plover. Yellow over Green over pale Green.

This afternoon still 2 White Wagtails among the mixed flock of alba wagtails and Reed buntings. On Hayfield 3 2 Great White Egrets, a single Little Egret, 2 Shelduck, 2 Gadwall, 2 Mallard, 4 Redshank, a Lapwing and 4 Ringed Plovers one of which was colour ringed. At the moment it looks like it possibly may be one from the Chichester harbour scheme.

Late afternoon at the fishing boats a 1w Caspian Gull briefly but nothing off shore.

A Few Migrants!

After a drizzly start a beautifully warm spring day on the peninsular.

06.45-09.30 from the sea watch hide with AJG who collated the numbers:

Brent Goose: 752 E

Shelduck: 3 E

Pintail: 8 E

Wigeon: 3 E

Teal: 5 E

Common Scoter: 15 E

Goldeneye: 2 E

Red-breasted Merganser: 2 E

Red-throated Diver: 17 E

Fulmar: 2 E

Gannet: 44 E

Great White Egret: 1 in just before I arrived!

Oystercatcher: 31 E

Grey Plover: 1 E

Knot: 2 E

Dunlin: 17 E

Bar-tailed Godwit: 19 E

Curlew: 1 E

Whimbrel: 1 E

Mediterranean Gull: 3 E

Sandwich Tern: 2 E

Meadow Pipit: 1 in

Alba Wagtail: 1 in

At the observatory a Firecrest and a Chiffchaff put in a brief appearance in the garden. A walk around the trapping area and Long Pits found 4 more Chiffchaffs, 9 Meadow Pipits over and a few Reed Buntings.

 Hayfield 3 looking good for migrant waders, surely a matter of days before the first Garganey drops in.

 One of 2 White Wagtails at Springfield Bridge

A wander round the hayfields this afternoon found 2 White Wagtails with a mix flock of Pied Wagtails and Reed Buntings at Springfield Bridge. On hayfield 3 a Little-ringed Plover, 4 Redshank, 2 Shelduck, a Great White Egret and a Little Egret.

Part of a flock of 340 past the fishing boats this afternoon.

The highlight of an hour at the fishing boats this afternoon was a flock of 340 Brent Geese, 3 Shelduck and 5 Common Scoter!

Harbour Porpoises!

Another very slow sea watch in a very cold Easterly 5-6, fortunately trying to count the Harbour Porpoises popping up and down kept some interest going.

08.00-09.15 from the sea watch hide.

Red-breasted Merganser: 1 E

Red-throated Diver: 4 E  2 on sea

Great-crested Grebe: 52 on sea

Fulmar: 2 E

Gannet: 3 E

Oystercatcher: 5 E

Turnstone: 1 on concrete road behind hide.

Black Redstart: 2 behind hide

Pied Wagtail: 4 behind hide

Meadow Pipit: 1 behind hide

Harbour Porpoise: 4+

The Patch from the hide found nothing of note.

Black-headed Gull: c1,000

Common Gull: c50

Herring Gull: c500

Lesser B.B.Gull: c30

Great B B Gull: c 150

Cormorant: c60

 Turnstone on the concrete road behind the sea watch hide.

 Meadow Pipit on the perimeter wall.

A check of the Gull roost on The Point found this Yellow-legged Gull of note among the commoner species.

East Wind!

A bright sunny morning on the peninsular was deceptive as the wind was bitingly cold. With nothing passing off shore I had a wander around the beach. A Hare flushed in front of me and disappeared among the sea containers, the male Rubicola Stonechat was still present on the Gorse as was 3 Black Redstarts and a Wheatear, 2 Skylarks, 4 Meadow Pipits and 5 Pied Wagtails were also present.

The red head Goosander and 3 Goldeneye could be seen on a wind swept ARC from the causeway. The 2 Cattle Egrets were in the fields south of Brickwall Farm. At Scotney the drake Scaup was by the double bends per GH.
This evening at the Egret roost, 26 Little Egrets, 3 Great White Egrets and 2 Cattle Egrets came in to roost.

A slow watch!

Another fairly slow watch this morning in the company of AJG and BB.
06.00-09.15 From the seawatch hide:
Brent Goose: 1205 E
Common Scoter: 66 E
Red-breasted Merganser: 4 E
Red-throated Diver: 39 E
Fulmar: 2 E
Gannet: 44 E
Oystercatcher: 12 E
Dunlin: 2 E
Bar-tailed Godwit: 3 E
Kittiwake: 2 E
Mediterranean Gull: 1 E
Auk sp: 26 E
Thanks to AJG for collating the numbers.

A bitterly cold afternoon found the Cattle Egrets were still in the sheep field in Dengemarsh Road and the elusive Slavonian Grebe was still on Dengemarsh.
Late afternoon 220 more Brent Geese passed the fishing boats, 2 Wheatears, 2 Black Redstarts and 2 Stonechats including the stunning male rubicola were on the beach.  

Iceland 5th-10th March

 As soon as DW, GH, PB and myself picked up the hire car from the airport we drove the short distance to Keflavik where the White-winged Scoter was quickly located among a few Common Eiders, Red-breasted Mergansers and Black Guillemot. We then did another short drive round the bay to Helguvik Harbour, unfortunately security would not not allow us in, so we had to view the harbour from the top of the surrounding cliffs  where we were confronted by literally 1,000s of Common Eiders to trawl through with our scopes to find a drake King Eider which we eventually did, but the views were not really satisfactory. 

White-winged Scoter

Black Guillemot.

From Helguvik we drove to Reykjavik Harbour to hopefully see the Glaucous-winged Gull which hadn't been seen for a few days. We also failed to find it in the poor weather and failing light so made our way to our base at Grunadfjadur.

 DW scanning The Patch at Grundarfjordur sheltering from the wind and snow.

I managed to drive off the road and get stuck! Many thanks to the local police for pulling us out.

The weather was mainly atrocious heavy snow, strong winds every day and appalling light for photography, but the birding was brilliant particularly for white winged gulls. I have never seen so many Fulmars tens of thousands of them, wherever you looked out to sea or around the mountains they were wheeling around.

 Feeding by the fish factory sluice.

 We saw this King x Common Eider hybrid in the same place last year.

 Borealis Common Eider.

Up to 15 Harlequins were seen every day at Grundarfjordur.

A flock of 400+ Snow Buntings could be seen around the town.

All the images below were taken at Grundarfjordur unless stated otherwise.

 Iceland and Kumlien's Gulls

Adult Kumlien's Gull

 2w Kumlien's Gull

 Adult Kumlien's Gull

2w Kumlien's Gull

Adult Glaucous Gull

 Herring x Glaucous Hybrid?

Herring x Glaucous Hybrid?

2w Iceland Gull (Stikkisholmur) 

We also connected with a Gyr falcon here and drove back to Grundarsfjadur in a white out with nil visibility at times, at least DW managed to keep the car on the road, which was more than I did.

 1w Iceland Gull

Herring, Glaucous, Iceland, Kumlien's and a Thayer's candidate.

This gull was spotted the previous day by DW while I was looking at Eiders.

Thayer'sGull?

 Thayer's Gull?

White-tailed Eagle seeing off a Raven.

 This hybrid in Reykjavik Harbour was no compensation for the Glaucous-winged Gull.

On our last full day we ended up back at Reykjavik Harbour trying for the Glaucous-winged Gull again to no avail. We did see a Brunnich's Guillemot, Great northern Diver and a summer plumaged Black Guillemot.

 In the last hour before our flight home we went back to Helguvik harbour where 2+ Blue Fulmars showed very well among the 100s of Fulmars, 2 King Eiders were also found.

Back at Dungeness!

1 of 2 Firecrests in the lighthouse garden yesterday

With a light south easterly blowing this morning I spent a disappointing hour in the seawatch hide in the company of AJG and BB. A few Red-throated Divers, Gannets and Common Scoter flew up channel, along with 200+ Brent Geese, a Goldeneye and 3 Sandwich Terns which went past before I arrived. 

On the shingle between the fishing boats and the lifeboat 3 Wheatears, 5 Black Redstarts, 3 Skylark, 4 Meadow Pipits and a superb Rubicola Stonechat.
A Black-necked Grebe was at the southern end of the New Diggings and couple of Goldeneye on the ARC. Scotney was disappointingly quiet but at least the Cattle Egrets were still in Dengemarsh Road.
This afternoon a wander up to The Pines found just the 1 Chiffchaff in the Sallows but many Reed Buntings and Chaffinches, A Green Woodpecker was doing its best to bring down the telegraph pole behind the screen hide, while 2 Marsh Harriers quartered the Tower pits.
Walking from the ARC to the back of Hookers saw 2 Great White Egrets, 3 Little Egrets, a Bittern, more Marsh Harriers, c100 Golden Plover, 6 Tree Sparrows and 2 Bearded Tits. While I was at the back of Hookers, a call from CT about a Slavonian Grebe on Dengemarsh gave me the spur to make my way to the hide there. There was no sign of the Grebe from the hide but CT could see it from Springfield Bridge. I made my way round the Hayfields seeing another Great White Egret and 3 more Little Egrets along with 3 Redshank in them. Finally reaching Springfield Bridge I eventually got views of the Slavonian Grebe through the reeds as it became more elusive. While waiting for it to show again 2 Peregrines put in an appearance along with a Great White Egret and a Bittern seen only by PT.

Cattle Egrets!

Most of my day was taken up with domestic stuff but I did manage to catch up with the Cattle Egrets again.

R.I.P