No Change!

Some of the 1,000s of Gulls at The Patch the last couple of days

I have spent several hours of the last couple of days at The Patch where 1,000s of Gulls have been on the beach and over the sea. Despite intense scrutiny by myself, DW and OL we found nothing out of the ordinary, although we did read many colour rings. While there c400 Brent Geese flew east, Red-throated Divers, Gannets, Kitiwakes, Guillemots, Razorbills and of course Cormorants could be seen constantly tooing and froing off shore, along with the odd Great Skua.

1 of 100s of Guillemots around the fishing boats

Small numbers of Razorbills off the fishing boats

1 of 2 Grey Seals off the fishing boats

The 2 Whooper Swans were still at Cockles bridge this afternoon along with the 3 Cattle Egrets.

A very Poor Day!

A thoroughly miserable day around the peninsular, with more or less constant drizzle and fog, both images below taken with very high ISO through the mist. 87 Brent Geese flew east this morning during a very dull and disappointing visit to The patch. The 2 Whooper Swans were still at Cockles Bridge and the Cattle Egrets were nearby. A drake Smew was still on the reserve but little else was seen today in the poor conditions. A visit to Scotney saw no Grey Geese again and very little else.

 Black Redstart at the lifeboat station 

1 of 3 Cattle Egrets still present by Cockles Bridge 

1,000+ Red-throated Divers!

Kittiwake

Another very gloomy day, made interesting by the sheer numbers of birds off shore.

08.15-11.00 & 13.10-15.30 from the fishing boats with DW, MH, OL
Brent Goose: 496E    1W
Shelduck: 1W
Red-throated Diver: 1,018W      4E
Great-crested Grebe: 114 on sea
Fulmar: 9W
Gannet: 306W
Cormorant: the now usual 1,000s present
Turnstone: 8 around
Great Skua: 1W
Black-headed Gull: 1,000+W
Kittiwake: 431W
Guillemot: Many present + minimum of 1,000W
Razorbill: 8+

The 2 Whooper Swans were still present at Cockles Bridge, nearby at Green Hop Farm the 3 Cattle Egrets. Once again no grey Geese at Scotney during my visit. On Walland the Bewick Swans were still present at Horses Bones Farm.
Late afternoon on Burrowes the drake Smew with 3 Goosanders but very few Gulls came into roost.

Owl and Harrier No Show!

A wander around the reserve this morning with CP, saw of note a Chiffchaff by Dengemarsh Hide, 3+ Bearded Tits from the viewing mound, the Smew nearby and 2 Dartford Warblers plus all the other usual species. When we were near the car park I got a call from SO telling me he had found a Tundra Bean Goose, with several Greater White-fronted Geese with the feral Greylags on the Sward at Scotney, a few minutes later we watching them in excellent light conditions.  

 Distant Smew, hopefully better in the next few days like the ones below a few years ago.

Tundra Bean Goose at Scotney

Greater White-fronted Geese at Scotney

This afternoon I stopped at Bretts Marina on my to Galloways for an afternoon Owl and Harrier watch, the usual Little Owl was in its favourite place at Lydd Camp and on the lake 3 Goosander showed distantly. The Owl and Harrier watch at South Brooks was a non event as no Hen Harriers, Short-eared Owls or Barn Owls were seen, a single male Marsh Harrier and 2 Peregrines were some compensation.

Little Owl at Lydd camp

3 distant Goosander on Bretts Marina

First Smew of the Winter and A Crane!

First thing this morning the 2 Whooper Swans flew into into the Kale field at Cockles Bridge after spending the night on Cooks Pool, they returned to Cooks Pool at Dusk.

A chilly walk along the front of Scotney saw very little of note, the usual 20+ Dunlin, 8 Redshank, 3 Ringed Plovers, 5 Curlew, c50 Golden Plover and c100 Lapwing. With the cold weather I thought there might have been a Woodcock or 2 in the places I have found them before but no luck. At the fishing boats there was no change from the last few days except for fewer Razorbills. 

I went back to the reserve after hearing news of a drake Smew on the reserve, I cant believe I twitched a Smew at Dungeness! Many thanks to Pam for braving the cold walking around the reserve to find it on the New Excavations, hopefully if it stays it will settle down and allow some images. I must admit I didn't think we were going see a Smew this winter on the peninsular.  

1 of the 3 Cattle Egrets still present

Early afternoon one of the three Cattle Egrets was being very showy near Boulderwall. This bird is often on its own as the other 2 seem to chase it away but tolerate a Little Egret hanging around with them. 2 Great White Egrets were nearby at the coral. 

Common Crane at the end of Cooks Pool

Mid afternoon I was in the VC with RW & SM having a warm up while waiting for the Gulls to come into roost, when a visitor came in saying he'd seen a Common Crane from Cockles Bridge and showed us a photograph of it on his phone, needless to say we quickly headed off towards Cockles Bridge, but only had to go as far as Cooks Pool as the bird had already relocated there. I'm sorry I only know the finders name as @naturebotherer on twitter, so thank you for sharing so promptly.

The Crane was quite flighty, it flew to the hay fields for a while before heading back towards Boulderwall, I think it eventually settled for the night in the coral area.

 Common Crane over the hay fields illuminated by the red glow of the setting sun 

No Cold Weather Movement at Dunge!

32 of the 34 Bewick Swans that were at Horses Bones Farm this morning

A drive around Walland in very damp dreary conditions found the Bewick Swans still insitu, nearby at Midley a few each of Yellowhammers, Reed Buntings, Tree Sparrows and Chaffinches were feeding in the stubble. Along Caldecott lane c30 Corn Buntings and sizeable mixed flock of Fieldfare and Redwing. At Cockles Bridge the 2 Whooper Swans were still in the Rape field and the 3 Cattle Egrets were in the sheep field along with a Little Egret and Great white Egret. A Dartford Warbler was behind the fish hut with a Stonechat per OL.

Some of the c30 Corn Buntings along Caldecott Lane

Some of the 100s of Guillemots that littered the sea off the fishing boats

At the fishing boats again 100s of Guillemots and Razorbills, 70+ Red-throated Divers, smaller numbers of Gannets and Kittiwakes, 5 Turnstones not forgetting the 1,000s of Cormorants. A high count this year of 1,725 Great-crested Grebes in Lade bay per DS. The fact that all these birds are hanging around I guess means the bays hold a plentiful supply of food.

Red-throated Divers passing the fishing boats

This afternoon watching Burrowes was very poor, as apart from roosting Cormorants only a few Gulls came in to roost.

Cormorants!

As I cleared the heavy frost off the car early this morning, I heard the familiar call of Bewick Swans flying out of the ARC over me to feed at Horses Bones Farm.  

Early morning at Cooks Pool, the Whoopers Swans roosting with the Mutes

 As I arrived at the sea watching hide wave after wave of Cormorants were flying past out of Rye Bay round The point into Lade Bay. The image above does not begin to show the numbers that swept past. I was trying to count them in blocks of 10 and believe a minimum of 9,000 birds were involved.

After that spectacle I wandered down to The Patch which was very quiet, probably because the boil was virtually non existent. Offshore plenty of Auks were tooing and froing, with a few Red-throated Divers and Gannets also 23 Brent Geese flew East. 

Brent Geese past The Patch

Razorbills and a Guillemot off the fishing boats this afternoon

MH joined me at the fishing boats this afternoon for a bitterly cold and fairly brief sea watch, which once again saw 100s of Razorbills and Guillemots tooing and froing and littering the sea while chasing Sprats, c50 Great-crested Grebes were feeding along with the omnipresent hordes of Cormorants, also 5 Turnstone on the beach and Grey Seal off shore.

Next stop the RSPB visitor centre for a warm up, where a Norwegian ringed Great Black-backed Gull JU850 was roosting. Details below.

CR-Code Black ring with white code: JU850 LBNW(JU850);RBM
Ringing Centre Stavanger Museum (Norway) Ring number 3039430
Species Great Black-backed Gull  Larus marinus 
Sex Unknown Age Pullus

Date Place Coordinates Observers Days/km/°
02.07 2014 Udvaare, Lindesnes, Vest-Agder, Norway 57°58'49"N 007°12'41"E Helberg, Morten -
22.11 2014 Boulogne-sur-Mer "bassin Loubet", Pas-de-Calais, France 50°43'38"N 001°35'14"E Petit-Berghem, Eric 143/884/206
01.07 2018 Udvaare, Lindesnes, Vest-Agder, Norway 57°58'49"N 007°12'41"E Helberg, Morten
Skår, Hogne 1460/0/0
31.01 2019 Dungeness, UK., Great Britain, Great Britain 50°55'51"N 000°56'16"E Casemore, Martin 1674/882/209

1w Caspian Gull

While I was in the visitor centre I saw a 1w Caspian Gull drop in front of Firth Hide, I quickly made my way to the hide, where fortunately the bird was still present and showing well.

Estonian ringed Common Gull P39J

Below are details of the above Estonian ringed Common Gull which David Walker and myself saw at The Patch on 29/01/2019. Many thanks to David for for forwarding the birds history to me.
Larus canus, white plastic P39J (ID= 7440)
• ringed 7.06.2012 with an aluminium ring Estonia Matsalu UA9695 (on right tibia) as a chick in Kakrarahu colony (nest no. 545), Matsalu Nature Reserve, Estonia (58º46’ N 23º26’ E).
• caught 10.06.2014 as a breeding female in Kakrarahu colony, nest no. 724. White PMMA ring P39J added on left tarsus.
• observed 15.05.2015 in Kakrarahu colony, nest no. 620.
• observed 15.05.2016 in Kakrarahu colony, nest no. 210.
• observed 15.05.2017 in Kakrarahu colony, nest no. 409.
• observed 15.05.2018 in Kakrarahu colony, nest no. 315.
• observed 29.01.2019 at Dungeness, Kent, UK (50°55’ N 0°59’ E) by David Walker.

  

  

Myriads of Gulls!

Todays juvenile Glaucous Gull  showing who's the boss

Apart from a short lunch break I spent all day around The Point. There were many 1,000s of Gulls today presumably attracted by a huge shoal of Sprats, many of which were stranded on the tide line and collected in buckets by locals. I took a number of photographs of the the Gulls today but none convey the sheer numbers of birds present.

Another colour ringed Mediterranean Gull E794

a rather distant yellow ringed 1w Caspian Gull at The Patch X21A

 Great Black-backed Gull JWM42 ringed as a chick on 23/06/2018 at Anholt Ørken, Midtjylland, Denmark 

My first Little Gull of the year

A minimum of 60 Red-throated Divers were seen this afternoon, with 18 Mediterranean Gulls, 2 Little Gulls, 14 Razorbills, 100s of Guillemots, 1,000s of Cormorants, 4 figure numbers of Herring Gulls, Black-headed Gulls, Kittiwakes, Common Gulls, smaller numbers of Great Black-backed Gulls, a Lesser Black-backed Gulls, a minimum of 6 Caspian Gulls and 44 Brent Geese. 

Afternoon Gull Roost!

This morning was taken up with hospital check up, but I was back in time for the afternoon Gull roost on Burrowes where higher numbers came in that of late. At least 2 Caspian Gulls came in as well as at least 3 colour ringed Gulls. At the moment I am only using my 7D MK11 coupled with 100-400 MK11 as it is far lighter than the 1DX MK11 & 400DO. 

 Decent numbers of Gulls came into roost this afternoon 

  Caspian Gull I've aged this as 5th cal year but could be wrong, I'm sure someone will put me right.

F5MT I last saw this bird on 04/12/2017

Tough Going!

This weekend in fairly inclement weather at Dungeness, there were still 100s of Auks tooing and froing between the bays, with smaller numbers of Gannets, Great-crested Grebes, Red-throated Divers and Kittiwakes, not forgetting the 1,000s of Cormorants,
On the land the 2 Whooper Swans and 3 Cattle Egrets could still be found around Cockles Bridge and Boulderwall Fields along with 2 Great White Egrets, 100s of Wigeon, Lapwing, Golden Plover and up to 46 Curlew and a single Ruff, all often being spooked by Marsh Harriers and Common Buzzards. In general the reserve was very quiet with occasional sightings of Bittern and Bearded Tits at Dengemarsh and a red head Goosander late this afternoon on Burrowes.
On Walland the 35 Bewick Swans were still Horse Bones Farm though always distant, better views of nice flock of Yellowhammers, Reed Buntings and Chaffinches near Hawthorn Corner, while Caldecott lane held at least 20 Corn buntings as well as a few Fieldfare and Redwing.
A nice drake Goosander has spent the weekend on Bretts Marina with a Little Owl there also.
Scotney on the sward the c175 feral Barnacle Geese still with a few Greylags, if you get there at the right time c500 Golden Plover, c300 Lapwing, 20+ Dunlin and a few Redshank can be seen on the sward, but usually very little is seen as they seem to spook very easily.