29/11/2020

Some of todays Red-throated Divers 

A cold dreary today with a stiff easterly breeze produced a surprisingly entertaining sea watch today. 

No sign of the Whooper Swans today but 47 White-fronted Geese at Cockles Bridge, later they flew onto the reserve presumably to roost. The Glossy Ibis and Cattle Egret were both reported as present today, also the long-tailed Duck and female Scaup reported present at Scotney. The usual Great White Egrets were being seen along with several Marsh Harriers and a Bittern.

Todays sea watch totals with SP, RW, CT & OL 07.25-10.55 & 13.30-14.55

I have started to play with slow motion video please click on this link Gannets

A couple of todays Eider

1 of the 100s of Kittiwakes past today

1 of at least 6 Bonxies seen today

Goldeneye a scarce bird on a Dungeness sea watch

Razorbill

Corn Buntings at the back of Scotney yesterday

Common Buzzard at Scotney

Some of the 1,000s of Golden plover at Scotney yesterday

 

26/11/2020

Sea watching over the last few days has been a little repetitive, with good numbers of Gannets, Kittiwakes and Auks, also there have still been up to 15 Sandwich Terns feeding off shore.  Quality has been provided by all Great Northern, Black-throated and Red-throated Divers, Velvet Scoters, the odd Bonxie and between 2 and 7 Merlins, though the standout star was the Puffin. 

Velvet Scoter

Adult Caspian Gull

Ob the reserve up to 8 Caspian Gulls have been coming into roost along with several Yellow-legged Gulls, though tonight very few Gulls came in, probably because it was dark so early being such a dank day.

At least 1 each of Cattle Egret and Glossy Ibis is still around the reserve, along with the usual Great White Egrets, 1 or 2 Water Pipits can still be found around the hay fields.  The Long-tailed Duck has moved to the Eastern back lake at Scotney, where with luck you can run into 1 of 3 Hen Harriers that have been around.  

3w Yellow-legged Gull

3w Caspian Gull

Adult Caspian Gull

Clearing in front of Hanson today

 

23.11/2020

07.30-08.30 on a beautiful still clear morning at the fishing boats:

Brent Goose: 2E

Shelduck: 1W

Wigeon: 2E

Velvet Scoter: 3E single party

Common Scoter: 43W   20E

Red-throated diver: 11W    16E

Gannet: 30W   95E

Oystercatcher: 6E

Turnstone: 1 on beach

Kittiwake: 5W     49E

Mediterranean gull: 1E    3 o/s

Sandwich tern: 1W

Great Skua: 1E

Guillemot: 1W    10E

Razorbill: 6E

Auk sp: 86E

Starling: 65 in

Harbour Porpoise: 2

Grey Seal 1

Sparrowhawk at the observatory

Lesser Redpoll

The 2 Whooper Swans in the field in front my house this morning completely ignoring the spray tractor.

Blue Snow Goose new in at Scotney today

Blue Snow Goose new in at Scotney today

A long walk around Scotney also found a ring tail Hen Harrier, 4 Green Sandpipers, 3 Tree Sparrows, 5 Corn Buntings, Little Owl and the usual wildfowl. Apparently the Long-tailed Duck is on the back lakes and I managed to walk past it! 1,000s of Lapwing and Golden Plover out the back, also a few Curlew 3+ Ruff, Peregrine, Merlin, Common Buzzards and Marsh Harriers and several Cetti's Warblers.

Late afternoon on the reserve the Glossy Ibis still present at Cooks Pool, 5+ Caspian Gulls came into roost including a yellow ringed Polish 2w bird.

 

The weekend

2 Sea watches today 07.15-09.50 & 13.30-15.15 thanks to AJG, SP & RW for keeping the logs:

Brent Goose: 1w   3E

Wigeon: 7E

Velvet Scoter: 1E

Common Scoter: 63W   8E

Goosander: 1E

Red-breasted Merganser: 3E

Red-throated Diver: 22W     14E       5 on

Black-throated Diver: 1W

Great Northern Diver: 1W

Great-crested Grebe: 26 around

Fulmar: 1W

Gannet: 762W

Cormorant: 1066 moving between Lade Bay & Rye bay

Peregrine: 2 over beach

Merlin: 7+ all in off the sea most carrying prey

Oystercatcher: 2E

Turnstone: 19 around

Kittiwake: 398W

Mediterranean Gull: 2W   4 around

Sandwich Tern: 6W     1E

Great Skua: 4W

Guillemot: 30W      11on

Razorbill: 69W     21on

Puffin: 1W

Auk sp: 200+ W

Grey Seal: 1

Common Seal: 1 

Harbour Porpoise: 1

Merlin coming in with prey

Merlin with a Linnet

Merlin

1 of at least 5 Red-throated Divers off shore

Whooper Swans On the ARC yesterday

The Whooper Swans have now moved to the Mute Swan Herd in the field in front my house, unfortunately it seems the farmer is going to spray that field, so they are likely to be moved on. A female Scaup was reported at Scotney on the first lake west of the caravan park, in a late afternoon visit I could not find it, but I will try again tomorrow in better light. 

 

20/11/2020

With a flat calm sea this mornings watch in the company of AJG was unsurprisingly a slow one, with just a few Gannets and usual fare. After an hour of tedium we walked around The Point hoping to find some lurking scarcity, but without success. We met OL who told us about a Pallas's Warbler that JD had found in the trapping area. Normally I wouldn't try for anything in the trapping area but it was a pleasant morning and I was at loose end, within seconds of arriving in the area it was seen we could hear it calling and very soon saw it, we saw at least 4 Firecrests, several Goldcrests and a Woodcock, Siskins and Redpolls were going over. 

Vocal Pallas's Warbler in the trapping area

Skylark behind the fishing boats

Goldeneye at Scotney but I couldn't find the Long-tailed Duck

I had a walk along the front of Scotney to Jury's Gap which to be honest was disappointing, I was unable to locate the Long-tailed Duck, though a fine drake Goldeneye is fairly unusual at this site, a brief view of hunting ring tail Hen Harrier along the back of the lake was probably the highlight of a long walk. I couldn't have been further from the car when JD messaged that 2 Whooper Swans had arrived on the ARC, but they were still present when I arrived nearly 2 hours later.

Stonechat at Scotney

Newly arrived Whooper Swans on the ARC this afternoon

The Glossy Ibis still around Cooks Pool

On the reserve The Glossy Ibis was in it's usual spot and a Cattle Egret was nearby, on Burrowes a flock of 5 Ruff were flying around and as the light faded the Gulls came pouring in, among them at least 5 Caspian Gulls, 2 adult and 3 x 1w birds, I probably missed a few more.  

Adult & 1w Caspian Gull (images takes at 4000 iso)

 

18/11/2020

I had some domestic stuff on this morning so I missed the sea watch and the Great Northern Diver, fortunately the watch was generally the same as the last few days. The Long-tailed Duck was still on its favoured lake at Scotney today.

Great White Egret

With domestic duties done I spent a few hours wandering around the reserve, getting nice views of the Egrets, not so good of the Glossy Ibis. I Bearded Tits were calling at several spots around the reserve, also several Cetti's Warblers but saw none probably due to the strong winds, a Common Snipe was flushed from the path at Christmas Dell by one of several Marsh Harriers seen, also an unseen Firecrest calling there. Cormorant numbers on Burrowes are growing fast with 2,000+ on the islands today, also there 1,000+ Lapwings, 3 Black-tailed Godwits were notable. Boulderwall fields held many Wigeon and 2 Ruff of note. A male Hen Harrier was seen but it managed to avoid me again.

Cattle Egret

Grey Heron joining the Egrets sheltering from the wind

Distant Glossy Ibis at Boulderwall

Black-tailed Godwits roosting on Burrowes

 

16/17/11/ 2020

Sea watching at Dungeness the last couple of days has been quite poor, though not surprising considering the WSW wind that has been blowing. The Merlins continue to be seen hunting over the beach and out to sea, today they were joined by a Peregrine. Gannets continue to trickle through along with a few Auks and sea duck.

Presumed Nordic Jackdaw at Scotney yesterday but no sign today

Long-tailed duck still at scorned today

If you are lucky you may bump into 1 of the at least 3 Hen Harriers that are currently frequenting Walland Marsh, but you do have to be lucky as they can appear any where at any time. Still no sign of any wild Swans on Walland and the few wild Geese seem to have disappeared. The first Goosander of winter flew through Lade yesterday per PT, around the lakes only a handful of Goldeneye have arrived. 

Goldeneye on the ARC today

14/11/2020

1 of 2 Sooty Shearwaters past the fishing boats today

Below is the combined totals for todays sea watches from the fishing boats 07.00-10.00 & 14.00-16.00

with AJG, SP, RW, DW, CP, CT.

An excellent sea watch today with the highlight for me being the 89 Little Gulls as they have been so so scarce this Autumn.

Gannets streaming past today

The 1w Caspian Gull that made a brief appearance

Red-throated Diver

1 of the 100s of Kittiwakes past today

Early afternoon at Scotney the Long-tailed Duck was still mostly sleeping among the Pochard

 

13/11/2020

Bonnie past the fishing boats early morning

07.14-11.20 & 14.00-15.00 from the fishing boats with AJG and SP who both kindly kept the log:

Common Scoter: 26W   8E

Red-breasted Merganser: 1W

Red-throated diver: 13W

Fulmar: 1W

Manx Shearwater: 1W

Great-crested Grebe: 128W

Gannet: 1,916W

Cormorant: 2,700W

Merlin: 1 o/s

Peregrine: 1 in off the sea

Dunlin: 1W

Kittiwake: 587W

Little Gull: 6W

Mediterranean Gull: 6W

Common Gull: 107W

Sandwich Tern: 85W

Great Skua: 1W

Pomarine Skua: 2W

Arctic Skua: 1W

Guillemot: 26W

Razorbill: 407W

Auk sp: 222W    5E

Goldfinch: 21W

Harbour Porpoise: 3 present

Peregrine coming in off the sea early this morning

Submarine heading down channel this afternoon

Long-tailed Duck at Scotney late afternoon, image taken after sunset.

 Late afternoon at Scotney JD & SP found a Long-tailed Duck, also there a male and a ring tail Hen Harrier, both of which probably roosted on the ranges, 2 Peregrines, a Merlin and a Green Sandpiper were also there late afternoon.