A decent day at Dungeness!

 Juvenile Glaucous Gull at The Patch

This morning at The Patch a party of 9 Little Gulls flew east along with a Brent Geese and dabblers. The Glaucous Gull still present as was the adult Little Gull, the 1w Caspian Gull was new in.

1w Caspian gull at The Patch

Little Gull over The Patch

Still plenty of Firecrests around Dungeness today

Around Beach area and bushes good numbers of Firecrests still along with at least, 3 Black Redstarts 12 Reed Buntings, a single Wheatear, 6 Meadow Pipits and singing Skylarks.

1 of at least 3 Reed Buntings in the Moat

At lunchtime while scanning the fields and sky in front my house I got a message from Mr Brown that he'd seen a Kite sp drifting my way, sure enough a Red Kite appeared (still a scarce bird at Dungeness), also seen 6 Common Buzzards, 3 Marsh Harriers, a Sparrowhawk, a Kestrel and Great White Egret of note. Late afternoon the 3 Smew including the drake on Tanners Pool with c100 Wigeon there also 2+ White Wagtails.

 Some of the 1,700 Brent Geese past the fishing boats this afternoon

Eider past the fishing boats this afternoon

13.13-16.00 from the fishing boats with JTM & RW:

Brent Goose: 1,759 up

Common Scoter: 102 up

Eider: 6 up
Red-throated Diver: 91 up   2 down
Gannet: 72 up
Oystercatcher: 1 up
Avocet: 9 up
Knot: c40 up
Dunlin: c60 up
Little Gull: 7 up
Kittiwake: 32 up
Sandwich tern: 14 up  7 down
Guillemot: 32 up   c30 around
Raven: 2 up
Harbour Porpoise: 4+

Knot & Dunlin

The Bluethroat still showing well at Dusk(1 of yesterdays images)

Bluethroat revisited!

06.50-11.00 From the Sea Watch hide with JTM, DR, OL LH & PH
Brent Goose: 1,972 up
Shelduck: 2 up
Teal: 11 up
Shoveler: 1 up
Common Scoter: 52 up
Red-throated Diver: 27 up   5 down
Great-crested Grebe: 6 up 4 on
Fulmar: 11 up   3 down
Gannet: 178 up .  31 down
Oystercatcher: 13 up
Ringed Plover: 1 up
Curlew: 11 down
Mediterranean Gull: 1 up
Little Gull: 2 up   + 1 at the Patch
Yellow-legged Gull: 3w at The Patch
Guillemot: c100 around
Razorbill: 2 up
Auk sp: c100 around
Harbour Porpoise: 4

 A short video of the Bluethroat can be seen HERE

Chiffchaff from Firth

Firecrest's!

 1 of at least 3 Firecrests in the lighthouse garden this morning

I didn't stay long at The Patch as there was no Gulls there due to a couple of fisherman on the beach.
08.50-09.20 at The Patch:
Brent Goose: 9 up
Red-throated Diver: 28 up
Great-crested Grebe: 168 on
Gannet: c50 feeding
Great Skua: 1 up
Kittiwake: c40 feeding
Sandwich Tern: 2 up
Guillemot: 84 on
Harbour Porpoise: 7 around

 Chiffchaff on the power station perimeter wall this morning was new in, still with it's forehead encrusted with what I think is Olive pollen, also a Song Thrush in the garden.

 Pied Wagtail fly catching on the perimeter wall

 Firecrest at Jarmans

There were 2 more Firecrests in the Gorse at Jarmans, nearby a Wheatear on the beach and a male Black Redstart in one of the gardens. A Merlin was also seen there.

 Wheatear near the lifeboat station

Dunlin at Scotney

Late morning at Scotney 14 Dunlin, 4 Redshank, 2 Ringed Plovers and a Curlew on the flooded sward. Still c150 feral Barnacle Geese and 150 Wigeon by the double bends. 

A wander around Dengemarsh looking for Scandi and Water Pipits drew a blank, on the lake a winter plumaged Slavonian Grebe was the highlight. A pair of Egyptian Geese and a couple of displaying Lapwings on the Hayfields. I gave the Gully a miss as it looked liked Tesco's car park on a Saturday viewed from the reserve.

14.20-15.50 from the fishing boats:
Brent Goose: 6 up
Common Scoter: 3 up
Red-throated Diver: 21 up   7 down
Great-crested Grebe: c 20 on
Gannet: 24 up.  11 down
Oystercatcher: 1 around
Little Gull: 6 up (very distant) 84 seen from the sea watch hide per DR.
Mediterranean Gull: 1 up
Kittiwake: 16 up.    34 down
Sandwich Tern: 11 up.   17 down
Guillemot: c40 around
Auk sp: c300 up
Harbour Porpoise: 2 around
Late afternoon 3 Smew including the drake on Tanners Pool, also a Great White Egret there, 2 Marsh Harriers, c150 Wigeon, 30 Teal and a party of c100 Golden Plover, some of which are sporting there smart summer dress.

Bluethroat in the Sunshine!

The Bluethroat sunbathing this afternoon

 Migrant Song Thrush at the Beach car park this morning

 The Glaucous Gull still at The Patch

 7U9B Yellow ringed Herring Gull

Very quiet on the sea this morning at The Patch:

Common Scoter: 8 up

Red-throated Diver: 5 up

Great-crested Grebe: c15 around

Gannet: c25 around

Cormorant: c120 around

Glaucous Gull: the regular juvenile

Little Gull: 1 adult around

Sandwich Tern: 2 down

Razorbill: 2 up

Guillemot: 10+ around

Common Seal: 1 around

This afternoon the Bluethroat was showing exceptionally well in Dengemarsh Gully

 Several Firecrests still in the Gully this afternoon

Bluethroats!

Both Bluethroats were showing well in Dengemarsh Gully this morning. The adult male that was frequenting the stream was slightly more elusive but much more comfortable to view as the viewing was in the cover of the gully out of the biting wind, whereas viewing of the 1w was in the full force of the icy blast. There are claims of up to 4 Bluethroats being present, though personally I only saw the 2 birds. A minimum of 5 Firecrests were present in the gully, a party of 24 Barnacle Geese flew over as well as a party of 20+ linnet.

The regular Glaucous Gull was seen on the reserve along with a Slavonian Grebe but apparently little else.

 The Glaucous Gull at The Patch this morning

 With a howling westerly wind blowing the sea passage this morning was virtually non existent, just a few each of Red-throated Diver, Gannet, Kittiwake and Guillemot offshore meant I spent the best part of 3 hours in the The Patch hide looking at Gulls again. The bright sunlight made viewing anything directly in front the hide difficult. There 1,000s of Gulls present including the regular juvenile Glaucous Gull, a couple of Mediterranean Gulls and managed to read at least 20 colour ringed Gulls.
At the fishing boats this afternoon there was no sign of the 1w Iceland Gull.
Late afternoon on the reserve no sign of the Smew on Tanners Pool but Great white Egret there, on Burrowes the Glaucous Gull came into roost and a Grey Plover was in front the visitor Centre of note.
I probably wont be doing another post for just over a week as I'm off to to the Western Sahara hopefully to see Golden Nightjar.