Osprey!

 Great White Egret

From Hanson as the fog began to clear a Great white Egret was showing very well, also there a Ruff, 2 Little Stints, a Curlew Sandpiper, 14 Black-tailed Godwits, 10 Golden Plover, 9 Dunlin and a single Garganey among the usual wildfowl and Lapwings. I joined SO on a short trip along the road to Seabrook to try and and see a Greenish Warbler that was seen there first thing this morning, unfortunately there was no sign of the bird when we arrived though plenty of Chiffchaffs were still present.

 Great White Egret

 Osprey

As I drove back onto the Dungeness estate I could see the Gulls were alarming, moments later I spotted the cause an Osprey slowly circling over the approach road. It carried on circling higher and higher until lost to view in the low cloud.

I joined SO in a very disappointing wander around The Desert and trapping area, seeing just a single Common Whitethroat, 3 Wheatears, 3 Stonechats and a trickle of Hirundines and Meadow Pipits over also a couple of Sparrowhawks, in the trapping area a few Chiffchaffs with a Tit flock and a Goldcrest.

Osprey

Early afternoon from home a couple of Common Buzzards, a Hobby chasing Hirundines and a couple of distant Little Egrets.

 3rd cal yr Yellow-legged Gull

At fishing boats this afternoon 4+ Arctic Skuas chasing Sandwich Terns off shore, a 3rd calendar  year Yellow-legged Gull was attracted to Mick and Richards offerings along with a couple of Norwegian colour ringed Great Black-backed Gulls but no Caspian while I was there.

A Grey Phalarope was reported at The Point by RBA but no one seems to know anything about it.

 Arctic Skua and Sandwich Tern

Norwegian Great Black-backed Gull JJ491

Norwegian Great Black-backed Gull JK254

Sea watching today 06.10-09.10 + 11.00-12.15 + 14.45-16.00 Many thanks to AJG for collating the numbers:
Teal: 6 down
Wigeon: 6 down
Common Scoter: 23 up   22 down
Eider: 1 around
Great-crested Grebe: 2 around
Sooty Shearwater: 1 down
Gannet: 371 down
Cormorant: present n/c
Oystercatcher: 3 up  1 down
Ringed Plover: 1 up
Great Skua: 37 down 
Pomarine Skua: 1 down
Arctic Skua: 67 down  5+ around
Kittiwake: 20 down
Sandwich Tern: 907 down
Commic Tern: 24 down
Guillemot: 1 down   1 around
Sand Martin: 19 out
House Martin: 10 out
Swallow: 373
Some excellent totals but meagre compared to Cap Gris nez just 27miles from Dungeness . See http://www.trektellen.org/count/view/148/20170915
At The Patch a juvenile Little Gull and a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull of note, also 5 Black Redstarts and a Robin behind the hide.

 Redstart in The Desert

A wander around The Desert during a break from sea watching saw very few migrants, highlights being a Common Redstart, 7 Wheatears, a Whinchat, 120+ Meadow Pipits over along with a trickle of Swallows and House Martins, the Osprey could be seen over Kerton Road Pit.

Juvenile Red-necked Grebe from Dennis's view point this afternoon 

Late afternoon the juvenile Red-necked Grebe was showing distantly from Dennis's view point, also from there 4 Great White Egrets, 2 Black Terns over the New Diggings, the Osprey again between the ARC and Kerton Road Pit. 

2 Curlew Sandpipers and a Little Stint from Hanson late afternoon per CT. 

Pink-footed Geese!

A walk around The Desert with AJG this morning yielded the almost resident group of Wheatears and Whinchats at the eastern end, while the bushes held a few Chiffchaffs, Common Whitethroats and Tits also a Grey Plover over. Around The Moat a Skylark and 3 more Wheatears were of note.

 Sparrowhawk behind the sea watch hide

I had wander down to The Patch where a juv Little Gull among 100s of Black-headed Gulls was noted along with a handful of Common Terns. A Sparrowhawk flew into the power station grounds, while on the perimeter wall 3 Wheatears, 2 Black Redstarts and a Chiffchaff along with the ubiquitous Linnets and Pied Wagtails. 

At the ARC just a Ruff and a Garganey of note this morning, though this afternoon 11 Black-tailed Godwits and 2 Golden Plover had joined them.

At Scotney late morning all the usual feral Geese on the sward along with 41 Curlew, 3 Bar-tailed Godwits and a Merlin.

 Whinchat Denge Marsh Gully

Lunchtime in Denge Marsh Gully 5 more Wheatears and 2 Whinchats of note. On Denge Marsh 2 Great White Egrets, an Avocet, 4 Dunlin and a Ruff were noted.

Back at Scotney a Common Sandpiper, 2 Dunlin, a Redshank 18 Yellow Wagtails, a Hobby and 2 Black-tailed godwits were all seen in a failed attempt to see the very brief Red-necked Phalarope.

 Unusual record of 14 Pink-footed Geese flying west down channel this afternoon

16.00-16.50 with AJG at the fishing boats:
Pink-footed Goose: 14 down
Eider: 1 around
Gannet: 12 around
Cormorant: present N/C
Oystercatcher: 2 up
Arctic Skua 12 down
Kittiwake: 1 down
Common Tern: 2 down
Sandwich Tern: 136 down
Late afternoon I went to the boardwalk to have another look at the Grey Phalarope which was showing very well, best of all I had it all to my self, I was very restrained and resisted the temptation to take yet more pictures of it, probably more because the light was very poor.

Just a few more images of the Grey Phalarope

Sea Watching!

I joined AJG & BC in the sea watch hide at 06.30, all of us thinking that the stormy weather might make a good sea watch for us, sadly we were all disappointed:
06.30-08.30
Common Scoter: 21 up  2 down
Velvet Scoter: 1 down
Gannet: 15 down
Arctic Skua: 3+ around
Sandwich Tern: 73 down
Guillemot: 2 down
Swallow: 3 out
Thinking there may be storm blown Phalarope on one of the lakes AJG and myself went to the ARC where of note 2 Black Terns, a Garganey, a Great White Egret, a Dunlin and good numbers of Sand Martins were seen among all the usual wildfowl. Next we tried Burrowes with out any luck. Next stop Denge Marsh where we lucked in to the Osprey fishing.

Osprey diving for a fish with Lapwing in attendance

 Caught a tiddler

Osprey from Dengemarsh Hide with my house and small balcony in the background

Next a wander around the High Gorse looking for the Wryneck without success, not surprising really the way the wind was howling across The Desert.

Grey Phalarope

Leach's Petrel

juvenile Little Gulls

With the wind making the bushes unbirdable the only viable birding option was to go to the fishing boats and stare at the sea. Barry joined me there, followed by Owen who almost immediately spotted a Phalarope swimming close to the shore!

Grey Phalarope

11.0-17.00 with BC,OL,AJG, DW et al from the fishing boats:
Common Scoter: 15 up      1 on
Red-throated Diver: 2 around
Great-crested Grebe: 5 around
Leach’s Petrel: 1 up
Gannet: 34 Up    12 down
Cormorant: 27 around
Grey Plover: 1 down
Dunlin: 2 down
Turnstone: 7 around
Grey Phalarope: 2 around
Arctic Skua: 9 down    4+around
Yellow-legged Gull: 1 on beach
Little Gull: 4 down (ad+3 juvs)
Little Tern: 1 down
Sandwich Tern: 607 down    112 up
Commic Tern: 4 down
Black Tern: 2 down
House Martin: 14 out
Swallow: 28 out
Harbour Porpoise: 4+
Grey Seal: 1

 Grey Phalarope

 Grey Phalarope

 Grey Phalarope

Grey Phalarope (I've only looked at few of the images I took)

 Leach's Petrel

Yellow-legged Gull

Posing Wryneck!

 Wryneck in the High Gorse today

Few grounded migrants today around The Point, but the Wryneck was showing exceptionally well in the High Gorse for those who came to see it. Needless to say I took far to many images of it.  

 Common Buzzard  over my garden uncropped straight off the camera

While having lunch in my garden a Common Buzzard came over at roof top level.

 A tatty adult Yellow-legged Gull at the fishing boats this afternoon

14.50-17.30 from the fishing boats with AJG:
Great-crested Grebe: 2 around
Gannet: 17 down
Turnstone: 15 on beach
Ringed Plover: 3 down
Dunlin: 3 down
Great Skua: 1 down
Arctic Skua: 26 down
Yellow-legged Gull 2 around (ad+juv)
Sandwich Tern: 1,306 down
Common Tern: 14 down
Guillemot: 2 down
House Martin: 1 out
Swallow: 24 out
Grey Seal: 2
Harbour porpoise: 6+

I spent the best of this morning around the ARC doing a WeBs count in fairly challenging conditions,

the poor light strong winds and frequent showers all conspired to make things difficult. Numbers were fairly low and apart from Lapwing the only wader was a single Dunlin.

Late morning on Burrowes a Little Stint, an Avocet, 5 Dunlin, 8 Ringed Plover, a Little Ringed Plover and 5 Great White Egrets were the highlights. As drove back up the entrance track an Osprey could be seen distantly over Denge Marsh.

An hours early afternoon sea watch was very poor, just a few each of Sandwich and Common Tern tooing and froing, just 3 Gannets, a single Common Scoter and the highlight was a Common Seal, also a Wheatear around the boats.

 Marsh Harrier from Hanson

Late afternoon back at the ARC from Hanson 32 Black-tailed Godwits, 6 Knot, 4 Dunlin, a Ruff, 2 Garganey, a Black-necked Grebe and a Marsh Harrier.
The Wryneck was still present this morning per PT.

Black-tailed Godwits and Knot

Wryneck!

 A much quieter day on the point today with a noticeable clear out of migrants, though the Wryneck was still present along with 6 Whinchat, 9 Wheatears, a few Common Whitethroats and Lesser Whitethroats, Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers, a few Hirundines through and a single Swift.

 Juvenile Caspian Gull

This afternoon at the fishing boat puddles a juvenile Caspian Gull first spotted by Mick and Richard. As the wind had picked up and squalls blowing through I didn't look at the sea, but apparently there was no change to recent days per OL.

The Osprey was seen at various locations around the peninsula, 2 Cattle Egrets, 6+ Great White Egrets and a Spoonbill were all seen at Denge Marsh but migrants were thin on the ground.    

HAAAN, juvenile Lesser Black Backed Gull