First thing this morning at The Point conditions seemed perfect for some grounded and overhead migrants, so it was very disappointing to see just 3 Fieldfares, a Chiffchaff, a Goldcrest and a few Blackbirds in a wander around the bushes and then drizzle started in earnest. 

North Thames CR Herring Gull on the beach this afternoon.

As the sea was flat calm I was a little surprised when AJG called me to say there was some movement off shore. I quickly joined him in the sea watch hide.

Numbers collated by AJG.

10.45-13.15

Brent Goose: 291W
Shelduck: 1 in
Wigeon: 12W
Teal: 1W
Red-breasted Merganser: 6W
Common Scoter: 76W
Great-crested Grebe: 4W
Sooty Shearwater: 1W
Red-throated Diver: 1E
Black-throated Diver: 1W
Great Northern Diver: 1W
Great Skua: 5W
Arctic Skua: 1W
Mediterranean Gull: 38 down
Kittiwake: 164W
Guillemot: 5 around
Razorbill: 8 around
Auk sp: 19E
Skylark: 16 in
Starling: 167 in

Sea Watch Surprise!

For a change first thing this morning I went to a cold windswept Dengemarsh Gully, where the virtually the only bird I saw was a Swallow heading towards the power station, the gully apart from a Robin and a Wren was an avian free zone.

At Dengemarsh the Linnet flock was still in the Sunflower field, 2 Marsh Harriers quartered the reed bed and a Great White Egret was in the shallows.

 Black Redstart 

I joined AJG in walk around The point which was also very disappointing, a single Black Redstart in the lighthouse garden, 2 Stonechats by the Britannia, a couple of Siskins and Redpolls over, a Redwing, a Green Woodpecker and a couple of Chiffchaffs. We arrived back at the observatory just as Great Spotted Woodpecker was about to be released, which was also the highlight of the meagre total of birds ringed there today. 

At Scotney nothing of note unless you include Egyptian Geese,
A surprising sea watch in the company of AJG this afternoon from the fishing boats. In benign weather we recorded a totally unexpected 668 Mediterranean Gulls, which is the highest count I have had at Dungeness.
13.40-16.10
Common Scoter: 3E
Great-crested Grebe: 6 around
Gannet: 49E   12W
Cormormant: present n/c
Oystercatcher:  5W   1E
Grey Plover: 3 on beach then E
Turnstone: 4 around
Dunlin: 33 on beach then E
Arctic Skua: 1 chasing off shore then W
Kittiwake: 506W
Mediterranean Gull: 668W
Black-headed Gull: present n/c
Common Gull: present n/c
Herring Gull: present n/c
Great Blck-backed Gull: present n/c
Sandwich Tern: 23W    2E
Guillemot: 8 around
Razorbill: 2 around
Auk: 15E    7W
Harbour Porpoise: 2+
Common Seal: 1

Sprites!

 A bedraggled Sparrowhawk in the fog this morning

In the lighthouse garden first thing this morning a Firecrest popped up briefly then disappeared in the fog which even completely obscured the power station. As the fog started to lift I made my way to the observatory where another firecrest was in the Moat.

Firecrest 

I joined Steve G in a wander around The Desert and beach. We saw very few grounded birds and overhead migration was very thin with just a few Siskin, Meadow Pipits, Goldfinches, Redpolls and Skylarks, however we did find a nice female Dartford Warbler which gave us great hope of other goodies to be found. A little further on 2 Firecrests and a Chiffchaff were flitting about in a small lone tree. The walk along the beach drew a blank on any Wheatears but we did find a Black Redstart by the Britannia.   

 Dartford Warbler

 As we arrived back at the observatory a Pallas's Warbler was trapped in The moat which unusually gave good views after release.

Pallas's Warbler

Another wander around the Desert and trapping area this afternoon with SG failed to live up to this mornings highs, though a Marsh Harrier hunting the trapping area was nice.
Late afternoon from the causeway 9 Great White Egrets and 7 Little Egrets were feeding on the New Diggings also a red head Goosander there. 

Maybe Tomorrow?

Maybe tomorrow seems to be the mantra on the Dungeness Peninsular lately.
This morning a dawn walk around The Desert saw 2 Common Snipe and 4 Swallows with single figures of Siskin, Chaffinch, Reed Bunting and Skylark over. The only grounded migrants were 2 Ring Ouzels that have been present for a few days. Even with all the nets open nothing of note was caught.
I joined SG in a stroll from the observatory along the front of the power station where we barely saw a bird until we reached the switching station where a flock of c80 Meadow Pipits were feeding, on the way back we did see a Chiffchaff, a Goldcrest and the local Peregrine a very poor return for our efforts.
This afternoon in an hour at the fishing boats;
Brent Goose: 67W
Wigeon: 10W
Eider: 2W
Gannet: c20 feeding
Turnstone: 3 on beach
Mediterranean Gull: 2 feeding
Black-headed Gull: c500 feeding
Guillemot: 3 around
Grey Seal: 1
Harbour Porpoise: 2+
Yet another walk around and through the sea containers not a single passerine.
Late afternoon I joined SG in another wander down to the The Patch, no passerines apart from a few Pied Wagtails.
Despite our best efforts down here on the shingle we just can't find any of those birds that have allegedly made this one of the best autumns ever!
12 Great White Egrets, 21 Little Egrets and a Merlin at the ARC roost this evening.
Maybe tomorrow!

A dull windy morning on the peninsular with little avian activity. As I drove across the causeway a Merlin dashed across the road, further down at the eastern end of the New Diggings 12 Great White Egrets and 13 Little Egrets. A walk along the front of the power station to the switching station found 2 Black Redstarts and few Linnets, among the rocks 3 Song Thrushes and a Goldcrest which were presumably newly arrived.
As I approached The moat 2 Ring Ouzels appeared and another Song Thrush.
I joined SG in a wander around the trapping area, along the Pilot path a large Tit flock contained 6+ Chiffchaffs of note, a Black Redstart was unusual in the area, a few Blackbirds and Song Thrushes dropped in, also a Marsh Harrier flew over and out to sea a little way before returning over the lighthouse.
Another Black Redstart opposite Jarmans.
This afternoon at the fishing boats 100s of feeding Gulls presumably feeding on the small fry that the Mackerel were chasing, the fisherman were pulling in the Mackerel 4 at a time. Among the commoner gulls were 25+ Mediterranean Gulls, 25+ Kittiwakes, 7+ Little Gulls, a Great Skua, small numbers of Guillemots and Razorbills, 3 Common Scoter flew east with a Tufted Duck for company. On the beach an adult Yellow-legged Gull and a Caspian Gull seen before I arrived by DW.
Late afternoon on the reserve a Black-tailed Godwit, an adult Yellow-legged Gull and the usual wildfowl and Egrets. On the roof of the VC another Black Redstart.

Blasting Easterlies!

With an easterly wind blasting across the peninsula this morning I wasn't expecting big things today.

07.00-08.30 from The Point with AJG who kindly collated the numbers:

Common Scoter: 5E

Gannet: 69E

Arctic Skua: 1E

Sandwich Tern: 16E

Razorbill: 28E

Guillemot: 7E

Auk sp: 96E

Swallow: 6 out

I joined AJG in a stroll around the trapping area, highlights were 15 Siskin, a Brambling, 2 Swallows and 6+ Chiffchaffs.

Late morning 8 Great White Egrets could be seen on the ARC from the causeway.

 Great White Egrets

This afternoon at the fishing boats a 1w Caspian Gull came into the gull scrum, also an adult Yellow-legged Gull was also present. Offshore c40 Gannets feeding, 3 Mediterranean Gulls and few Auks tooing and froing.

 1w Caspian Gull

Gull scrum at the fishing boats

Weasel Encounter!

Very quiet at Dungeness this morning with apparently no grounded migrants and virtually no overhead migration. I wandered down to The Patch seeing 8 Pied Wagtails and a party of 23 Swallows on the way, over the boil c150 Black-headed Gulls with a few Herring and common Gulls and a single Mediterranean Gull.

Wandering further down the beach towards Denge Marsh Gully a movement caught my eye, on closer scrutiny just the head of a Weasel was sticking out of hole under a large yellow metal container. I stood motionless for what seemed ages  before the Weasel came out, it was very wary and kept on dashing back to the safety of it's hole. Eventually it came right out under the fence and ran along the wall over my feet grabbed a Beetle and dashed back to it's hole. It came out again, after about an hour of it entertaining me it dashed to the power station buildings and disappeared into a cable duct, despite waiting a further half hour I never saw it again. 

Always check those big yellow containers!

Cute Assassin!

 It ran along the wall and over my foot!

Just before it disappeared into a cable duct.

Guillemot

This afternoon on the sea a few Gannets, Mediterranean Gulls, Guillemots and a couple of Brent Geese.

This evening at the ARC Egret 14 Great White Egrets and 19 Little Egrets came into the roost.

Cypress Carpet

The Plodland MV has been very poor lately, so this Cypress Carpet was a nice surprise.

This morning at The Point very little in the way of grounded migrants but there was some vis mig, with my poor hearing the following totals will only be a part of what was seen and heard by others

Brent Geese: 15 

Common Snipe: 1

Common Buzzard: 1

Short-eared Owl: 2

Swallow: 4

House Martin: 1

Black Redstart: 2

Pied Wagtail: 47

Mistle Thrush: 2

Fieldfare: 2

Song Thrush: 11

Blackbird: 12

Skylark: 96

Meadow Pipit: 46

Chiffchaff: 6

Goldcrest: 2

Starling: 7,950

Tree Sparrow: 1+

Siskin: 31

Chaffinch: 460

Brambling: 2

Linnet: 90

Goldfinch: 140

 1 of 2 behind The Patch

Russian Aircraft Carrier Admiral Kuznetsov

This afternoon I joined AJG who collated  at the fishing boats 15.10-16.10:
Brent Goose:  9E     28W
Gadwall: 3 in
Eider: 1W
Gannet: 138E
Great Skua: 1E
Mediterranean Gull: 8E
Kittiwake: 6E
Guillemot: 64E
Auk sp: 311E
Skylark: 6 in

Gannet!

At the weekend this juvenile Gannet joined the Gull throng at the fishing boats.

 Once the Gannet caught this Plaice it did not know how to eat it and eventually had it stolen.

Spurn & Dungeness

An excellent day trip to Spurn for the Siberian Accentor with DW, AJG, OL and GH who did all the hard work driving us there and back. The Accentor was on show from the time we arrived though frustratingly it was in the gas terminal feeding along the fence line in heavy shade for most of the time before flying deeper into the terminal. As news of an Isabelline Wheatear nearby came through we left the Accentor hoping that it would come back. The Isabelline Wheatear was a bonus also a Yellow-browed Warbler, Bean Geese, Brambling, Tree Sparrows, Ring Ouzels and birds in every bush and every field and on return to the gas terminal the Accentor was back on show.  

 Siberian Accentor

 Isabelline Wheatear

Brambling & Tree Sparrow

Back at Dungeness this morning I joined AJG in a wander around Trapping area and Desert where we saw Yellow-browed Warbler with a Tit flock along the Pilot Path and there was up to 3 Ring Ouzels present but very little else. Normally I would have been very satisfied seeing a Yellow-browed Warbler but after yesterdays avian extravaganza at Spurn I found it difficult to motivate myself. I did spend more time looking among the sea containers seeing just a Wren. The sea was very unproductive though not surprising given the wind direction. Dengemarsh Gully held just a Wheatear of any note, on Burrowes from Dennis's Hide 8 Great White Egrets and another from Hanson Hide on the ARC but very quiet in general. 

With North West winds forecast for tomorrow I'm off to Cap Gris Nez with most of the Dungeness regulars to hopefully have a good sea watch, time will tell.