06/09/2020

Another poor early morning sea watch for AJG who kindly sent me the details:

06.00-07.00 from the fishing boats:

Common Scoter: 4W

Fulmar: 1W

Gannet: 16 feeding offshore

Fulmar: 1W

Ringed Plover:  2E

Oystercatcher: 8E

Sandwich Tern: 664W out of Lade Bay

The forecast is for the weather to get stormy next weekend so hopefully the sea watching will improve.

Glossy still here with all the usual avifauna

A morning and evening visit to the ARC found the Glossy, a Little Gull (different from the Denge Marsh bird) 2 Black-necked Grebes, 2 Garganey, a distant Bittern, a Little Stint, 4 Ruff, 4 Dunlin, c40 Knot, c150 Golden plover, 2 Ringed Plovers, 2 Bar-tailed Godwits, 6 Black-tailed Godwits, the usual Common Terns and all the usual wildfowl and Marsh Harriers. 

Garganey

A very distant Bittern

No.7 coming in

All 7 Cattle Egrets at Denge Marsh

Around Denge Marsh7 Cattle Egrets were the largest flock I have seen at Dungeness, 6 Great White Egrets, Short-eared Owl, a showy Little Gull, Greenshank, a Grasshopper Warbler I kicked up as walked through the rank grass by the wooden bridge on the footpath to Lydd, 2 Kingfishers, a minimum of 20 Whinchats around the whole of Denge Marsh, 100s of Hirundines good numbers of Common and Lesser Whitethroats, Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs, in total for the day 98 species and i never made it to the sea. 

A Showy Little Gull on Denge Marsh

A Showy Little Gull on Denge Marsh

Nice footpath post!

One of 2 Kingfishers around Hookers today

Social distancing Hobbys over Hookers today

Pale Eggar in the trap this morning, apparently a first for Dungeness area.

A Delicate

Hummingbird Hawkmoth back in the garden again today

05/09/2020

Glossy Ibis with a Garganey at the ARC yesterday

AJG did a short sea watch this morning which as you can see was very poor:
06:00-06:45 from the fishing boats:
Common Scoter: 2E
Gannet: 9W
Cormorant: present n/c
Sandwich Tern: 524W   26E
Common Tern: 1W
Swallow: 2 out
We did another short sea watch this afternoon which was even worse, the highlight being a Swift that went went out as we climbed into our cars.

Today at the ARC the Glossy Ibis still present, also a Garganey, a Little Gull, c150 Golden Plover. 200+ Lapwing, c40 Knot, 2 Ruff both juveniles, 6 Black-tailed Godwits, a Bar-tailed Godwit and a couple of Dunlin.

Whinchat in The Desert

1 of 3 Sedge Warblers seen today at the Long Pits, along with good numbers Common Whitethroats, Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers, with smaller numbers of Lesser Whitethroats and Reed Warblers.

2 of the 3 Redstarts seen around the Long Pits today

1 of c15 Lesser Whitethroats seen around the Long Pits today

Spotted Flycatcher top of the Long Pits

Sparrowhawk at The Moat

Wheatear by The Moat

The Drone that's used for spotting illegal migrants returning to Lydd Airport

This flock of Golden Plover were circling Galloways before heading off out over the channel, I estimated the flock to be about 50 in number, so was surprised when I counted them on the computer screen to find there was 80!  Also at Galloways 6+ Whinchats, 4+ Wheatears, numerous Stonechats and Common Whitethroats.

Low flying Golden Plover

One of several Wheatears at Galloways

Young Fox at Galloways

Whinchat on the hayfield electric fence this afternoon

5 of at least 9 Whinchats at the the hay fields this afrenoon

Whinchat and Yellow Wagtails at the hay fields

1 of at least 3 Great White Egret at Denge Marsh, also an adult Ruff there.

5 of the 6 Cattle Egrets at the Hay fields this afternoon, also 2 Greenshank there.

Up to 4 Hummingbird Hawkmoths have been visiting my garden almost daily this summer

03/09/2020

06.00-08.30 from the fishing boats with SP & AJG who collated the numbers:
Wigeon: 2W
Common Scoter: 13W
Great-crested Grebe: 2W
Gannet: 24W
Great Skua: 2W
Arctic Skua: 2W
Sandwich tern 233 down
Common Tern 2 down
Auk sp:1W
Sand Martin: 695 out
House Martin: out 38
Swallow: 540 out
Grey Seal: 1
Harbour Porpoise: 3+

Some of the 100s probably 1,000s of Sand Martins over the ARC this morning

Newly fledged Swallow from the screen hide nest

Glossy Ibis still present today

In 2 visits to the ARC today, The Glossy Ibis was still showing well, also 10 Black-tailed Godwits, 4 Bar-tailed Godwits, c200 each of Golden Plover and Lapwing, a Little Stint, 3 Dunlin, a Ruff, 3 Avocet, 2 Common Snipe, 2 Ringed Plovers, 3 Common Sandpipers, 2 Garganey and many Hirundines.
A scan through the large Gulls in the roost by the entrance track to the VC found an adult Yellow-legged Gull, a new for Dungeness Norwegian ringed Great Black-backed Gull JC544 also a returning Normandy ringed G.B.B.Gull 99L.

Above is the known life history of G.B.B.Gull JC554

1st calendar year Caspian Gull at the fishing boats this afternoon

13.30-16.00 from the fishing boats with CP and AJG who collated the numbers:
Common Scoter: 8W  1 o/s
Graet-crested Grebe: 6 o/s
Balearic Shearwater: 1W
Gannet: 32W
Cormorant: 17 o/s
Turnstone: 2W
Mediterranean Gull: 1W
Caspian Gull: 1 1st calendar year on beach
Med Gull 1 adult down
Sandwich Tern: 424W
Common Tern: 28W
Black Tern: 1W
Harbour Porpoise: 3+

1st calendar year Caspian Gull at the fishing boats this afternoon

1st calendar year Caspian Gull at the fishing boats this afternoon

02/09/2020

Glossy Ibis at the ARC yesterday in a brief visit

I haven't been out too much the last couple of days as I've had to do some domestic stuff. so just a few images. 

A couple of visits to the ARC saw c200 Golden Plover, 45 Knot, Ruff, Ringed Plovers, Common Sandpipers, Dunlin, 8 Black-tailed Godwits, a Bar-tailed Godwit and the usual wildfowl.

Large numbers of Sand Martins and Swallows over the peninsular today, along with 10+ Common Buzzards that were probably local birds. The Osprey that I glimpsed distantly thanks to a quick message from RW today was definitely not local. 

Juvenile Cuckoo on the edge of The Desert yesterday

Juvenile Goldfinch in the garden this morning

Grey Seal with a cataract at the fishing boats this afternoon

A very poor sea watch with RW this afternoon 14.00-16.00:
Shelduck: 17W
Common Scoter: 3W  19E
Gannet: 39W
Cormorant: 16 o/s
Arctic Skua: 2E
Yellow-legged Gull: 1 juv/1w
Little Tern: 4W
Sandwich Tern: 52W
Common Tern: 9W
Sand Martin: 185 out
Swallow: 506 out
Harbour Porpoise: 4+
Grey Seal: 1 on beach

Juvenile/1w Yellow-legged gull at the fishing boats this afternoon