Hooded Merganser!

This mornings southerly produced a very quiet early morning sea watch:

06.25-07.25 from the sea watch hide with BB,LG & AJG who collated the numbers:

Red-throated Diver: 32 up     3 down

Fulmar: 2 up  2 down

Gannet: 8 down

Oystercatcher: 6 up

Mediterranean Gull: 1 down

Kittiwake: 7 up   11 down

Guillemot: 1 up

Auk sp: 11 up

 1w Iceland Gull behind The Patch after the disappointing sea watch

 1 of the 2 Long-eared Owls 

On the reserve the Long-eared Owls were enjoying the warmth of the morning sunshine. By the New Excavations a Water Rail was skulking along with a Cetti's Warbler.

At Christmas Dell another Cetti's Warbler and a Chiffchaff of note. Denge Marsh produced 2 Great White Egrets and 2 Marsh Harriers. 

 1 of 4 seen around the reserve this morning

 From the viewing mound another Cetti's Warbler and a confiding Bearded Tit. The Ring-necked Duck was still on Tanners Pit along with another Great White Egret and another on Cooks Pit.

 Early afternoon a fine drake Hooded Merganser was found at Hookers. I eventually got on to it after making the mistake of wandering off to look elsewhere for it when it went missing after it's initial discovery. A really smart bird, unfortunately it does carry a green ring (see the last image).

Black-necked Grebe

Late afternoon I walked along the causeway between Burrowes and the New Diggings, the 2 Slavonian Grebes and the Black-necked Grebe could be seen easily from there, also 2 Chiffchaffs and feeding flock of 22 Reed Buntings.

White Wagtail!

 This day last year saw 17+ Blue Fulmars with 400+ Fulmars and much more past the sea watch hide. Today there were c15 Fulmars, a handful of Red-throated Divers and Kittiwakes, 363 Brent Geese, 3 Common Scoter, 60+ Gannets and a Great Skua. The 2 1w Iceland Gulls were still at The Patch.
A visit to Denge Marsh Gully drew a blank on migrants with just a handful of Linnets and Corvids present.
From Springfield Bridge a Great White Egret and 2 Marsh Harriers were the highlights. As essential work was being undertaken in the hay fields they were inevitably devoid of avian life.
A Marsh Harrier and 2 Common Buzzards were on the ranges but no migrants were seen at Scotney.

Black-necked Grebe on the New Diggings

An early afternoon visit to the beach drew a blank on migrants also very little on the sea apart from a flotilla of Guillemots and Great-crested Grebes.

A walk across the causeway from Boulderwall to the Open pits this afternoon found 2 Chiffchaffs, 2 Slavonian Grebes and a Black-necked Grebe. 

 White Wagtail at Makepiece

Late afternoon the Ring-necked Duck and 2 red head Smew were on Tanners Pit. The 2 Long-eared Owls  were showing in the bushes behind the Dipping Pool.
From Makepiece Hide I eventually found a 1w Caspian Gull among the 100s of Gulls present. A superb White Wagtail was feeding with Reed Buntings right in front the hide as was a pair of Goldeneye, also 5 Black-tailed Godwits and an Avocet there. In a field just west of the reserve entrance 2 Red-legged Partridges the first I have seen on the peninsula this year, now a scarce bird here.

 Goldeneye from Makepiece

Red-legged Partridges (scarce on the peninsula these days)

First Sandwich Tern!

No grey geese at Scotney, in fact very little at all, but a pleasant walk.
A short raptor watch from the garden saw 9 Common Buzzards, 4 Marsh Harriers, a Kestrel and a Sparrowhawk, but no sign of any Red Kites. (at least 3 seen around the area today)
The Black-necked Grebe and 2 Slavonian Grebes were still on the New diggings today. The Ring-necked Duck seems to have moved to Tanners Pool, no sign of the drake Smew, a Great White Egret was compensation.
A sea watch this afternoon from the turning circle was slow but did include my first Sandwich Tern of the year:
14.15-15.00
Common Scoter: 4 down
Red-throated Diver: 3 up
Great-crested Grebe: present n/c
Gannet: 6 up     9 down
Cormorant: present n/c
Sandwich Tern: 1 up
Guillemot: c25 on sea
Wood Pigeon: 14 feeding on beach
A Long-eared Owl was showing well at the Dipping Pool with 2 Little Grebes there. 4+ Goldeneye on Burrowes was the highlight there.

 Black Redstart Dengemarsh Gully this morning

As the wind was from a North Westerly vector this morning I didn't think a sea watch would be very productive, so I went to Dengemarsh Gully instead. While wandering out to the the converter station, I was alerted by the Gulls to a Marsh Harrier that came in off the sea at a great height and continued on towards Lydd. A Raven came over harassed by Crows, a Black Redstart was at the bottom of the gully as was 4 Pied Wagtails and 20+ Linnets.

At Dengemarsh from Springfield Bridge a Peregrine was on the pylons, a Bittern gave a brief flight view, the Raven flew over again, a Great White Egret was feeding in the reeds, many Reed Buntings, Linnets, Chaffinches and Stock Doves were feeding in the Sunflower fields and 4 Russian White-fronted Geese were with 8 Egyptian Geese and the other feral Geese.

I checked Brett's Marina but was unable to find the drake Goosander.

 2 of the 3 Tundra Bean Geese at Scotney this morning

At  Scotney 3 more Russian White-fronted Geese and 3 Tundra Bean Geese flew in with the feral Greylag flock, also there c150 Golden Plover, 3 Curlew and 4 Oystercatcher.

Russian White-fronted Geese at Scotney this morning

An hour at the beach early afternoon saw a few Gannets, Guillemots, Kittiwakes, 11 Turnstone and c200 Great-crested Grebes. 

On the reserve this afternoon 2 Slavonian and a single Black-necked Grebe on the New Diggings, a drake Smew and the Ring-necked duck were on the second pools along the entrance track, also Great White and Little Egret there.

2 Long-eared Owls behind the Dipping Pool, one of which was sitting right out in the open, also a Little Grebe there.

5 Ruff from Makepiece and 5 Goldeneye there also.

Late afternoon 5 Little Egrets at Cockles Bridge.

Polish ringed 1w Caspian Gull!

Waking up to the sound of the wind rain lashing the windows didn't inspire me to get out in the field early. After a leisurely breakfast and catching up on emails and other domestic stuff that needed my attention I finally got out late morning. 

At Scotney 100+ Golden Plover, 9 Ringed Plover and 2 Redshank on the sward. The lake was windswept with just a few Wigeon and Tufted Duck sheltering in the bay.

On the New Diggings a Black-necked Grebe was all I could find before the Power Station police moved me on!

An hour at The Point saw 32 Brent Geese, a Fulmar and 2 Red-throated Divers fly east, also a few Gannets, Guillemots and Kittiwakes tooing and froing.

After lunch I joined Mick and Richard at the fishing  boats where although there were plenty of Gulls around there was nothing notable, that is until we were on the point of packing up and Mick spotted a 1w Caspian Gull at the back of the pack. As it jostled for a place on the beach we could see a red ring on it, viewed through my scope I could see it was a Polish ring. We were soon joined  by RS, DW, LG,CB,AA & LF all getting good views of the bird and also the regular 1w Caspian Gull.

 Polish 1w Caspian Gull 897P

 Normandy 74J joined the throng

North Thames U1TT today, I first saw it on 14th January 2017 

The Stunning Dungeness 2w Iceland Gull!

The boiling sea in Lade Bay this afternoon.

Very little birding done today due to Doris. I did mange to see the Ring-necked Duck and the 2 Long-eared Owls one of which was showing exceptionally well, pity I messed up all the images I took. 

All the following images were taken on Sunday 19th February

Sea Watch!

A snatched image of the 1w Iceland Gull as it went past the hide

06.50-09.35 from the sea watch hide with BB and AJG who collated the numbers:
Brent Goose: 198 up
Teal: 24 up
Common Scoter: 43 down        10 up
Velvet Scoter: 12 down(3, 2,3, 4)
Red-throated Diver: 16 up    5 down
Great-crested Grebe: 5 down
Fulmar: 46 down
Gannet: 3 up     49 down
Oystercatcher: 4 down
Iceland Gull: 1 x 1w down
Kittiwake: 16 down
Guillemot: 241 down
Razorbill:  11 down

Auk sp:  690 down

Oiled Red-throated Diver

After the morning sea watch I walked down to The Patch hide where I could only find the 1 Iceland Gull in challenging conditions, though DW found all 3 later on.

 Pink-footed Goose with Canada & Greylag Geese

No sign of the Ring-necked Duck on Cook's Pool late morning, some compensation in the form of a Pink-footed Goose among the Canada & Greylag Geese, also c200 Golden Plover and a Ruff among the Lapwing and Ringed Plover.

Common Scoter on Scotney

On a very wind swept Scotney the only notable bird I could see was a Common Scoter.

14.15-15.00 from the turning circle:

Brent Goose: 24 up

Red-throated Diver: 1 up   1 down

Great-crested Grebe: 26 around

Fulmar: 4 down

Gannet:  2 up   4 down

Auk sp: 117 down  39 up

Distant Velvet Scoters

06.55-09.25 this morning from the sea watch hide with BB and AJG who collated the numbers:

Brent Goose: 36 up

Common Scoter: 41 up     8 down

Velvet Scoter: 3 down

Red-breasted Merganser: 1 up

Red-throated Diver: 166 up

Great Crested Grebe:  142 on

Gannet: 145 up

Fulmar: 1 down

Mediterranaen Gull: 3 adults up

Kittiwake: 41 down

Guillemot: 22 up

Razorbill: 9 down

Auk sp: 200+ around

Harbour Porpoise: 2
An hour mid morning from the fishing boats the highlights were 11 Turnstone on the beach, 27 Brent Geese up, and dozens of Guillemots off shore.
On the reserve the Ring-necked duck and 2 Long-eared Owls still but fairly quiet.

 Gannets from the fishing boats

This afternoon from the fishing boats:

Brent Goose: 52 up

Velvet Scoter: 2 up

Red-throated Diver: 3 around (1 badly oiled)

Great-crested Grebe: 242 on sea

Gannet: c40 feeding off shore

Little Gull: 1 juv down

Iceland Gull: 1 (the 2w bird flew through towards The Patch)

Kittiwake: 10+ down

Guillemots: 100+ around

Razorbill: 14+ around

Diving Gannet

Herring Gull D9PT

Late afternoon at The Patch 3 Iceland Gulls (the 2w and 2 1w birds)

The Bewick's leave!

I drove to the beach this morning through a blanket of mist without much enthusiasm but hoping the sea would be clear of fog, unfortunately the fog horn was blaring and my walk to the sea watch hide confirmed that sea watching was a non starter.

At Boulderwall I couldn't find the Ring-necked Duck though it was present this afternoon. Behind Cook's Pool 3 Ruff and 7 Curlew among the 100s of Golden Plover, Lapwing and Wigeon.

 Great Black-backed Gulls squabbling over the corpse of a Harbour Porpoise

As the red flags were down and the promise of nice weather and being a glutton for punishment I drove to Jury's Gap and walked to Galloways and back. I didn't see another person in the 3 hours it took me. Along the beach a dead porpoise was feeding a number of Gulls, 22 Sanderling were running along the shoreline and a flock of c150 Brent Geese flew east.

1 of 2 Redwing feeding along the green wall at The Midrips

On the ranges and the pools 2 Redwing feeding along the green wall and 14 singing Skylarks were the highlights, also seen a fly over Little Egret a site tick for me, 3 Stonechats, a Marsh Harrier, a Common Buzzard, 5 Grey Plover, a Dunlin, 18 Redshank, 6 Pintail, 24 Shoveler, 100+ Wigeon, 30+ Teal and 28 Shelduck.

The old ammunition railway on the ranges

I counted 14 semi inflated Happy Meal balloons and numerous other sorts along the beach

He thought no one could see him!

Mid afternoon at the ARC from the causeway I counted 74 Bewick Swans, certainly my highest count of the year at Dungeness. While counting them I noticed a chap clamber down the bank by the screen hide totally oblivious to the fact that he was disturbing the Bewick Swans and that my camera was pointing in his direction. 

2w Iceland Gull at the fishing boats

At the fishing boats there were a few Gulls around  so I threw out some bread, within seconds the gorgeous 2w Iceland Gull appeared, shame the skies had clouded over. 

2w Iceland Gull

The last 14 Bewick Swans heading out to sea

By the time I got back to the ARC Hanson Hide where I joined RW, there were only 14 Bewick Swans left including 3 juveniles, apparently the others had gone out to sea earlier. A Bittern flew from the ARC to the Tower Pits, a Great White Egret appeared in the reeds, a Marsh Harrier flew over and finally at 17.15 the remaining 14 Bewick Swans flew off out to sea, the start of there long and perilous journey to northern Russia, lets hope they have a safe journey and return to Walland Marsh in November with plenty more juveniles.