1st & 2nd August 2021

A newly fledged Bearded Tit at Dengemarsh

Yesterdays walk around the reserve saw all the usual reed bed species and heard some Water Rail, the only waders were 2 Ruff on Burrowes and a few Lapwing and Oystercatchers.

From beside the screen at the ARC 2 Garganey could be seen along with a Green and Common Sandpiper. Apart from the 3 Balearic Shearwaters early morning the sea watching was abysmal.

There are still plenty of Sedge Warblers around the reserve

Cattle Egret in Hay Field 3 yesterday

Ruff at  Firth yesterday

 

Juvenile Little Egret picking insects off the Kale along the power station fence line today

Walking up the shingle to The Patch hide

Apart from the Little Egret and Black Redstart little was seen at The Patch and just a handful each of Gannets, Kittiwakes and Terns feeding off shore.

Behind the hide

Flying into A station

Meadow Pipit with bling in The Desert

The only notable sightings in The Desert and trapping area were 3 Wheatears and juvenile Marsh Harrier.

Greater White-fronted Goose at Scotney

A check of Scotney for the Caspian tern that made a fleeting visit to Dengemarsh found a summering Greater White-fronted Goose, 12 Common Sandpipers, 2 Green Sandpipers, 13, Dunlin, 5 Avocets,  a Culew and a few each of Yellow Wagtail and Corn Bunting.

Juvenile Wheatear at The Midrips

Avocets and Sandwich Terns at The Midrips

An evening visit to The Midrips saw c50 Sandwich Terns, 34 Avocet, 4 Whimbrel, 5 Dunlin, 2 Common Sandpipers, a couple of newly fledged Wheatears but no Carrot Bill.

Dunlin at The Midrips

31/07/2021

Very thin fare for this mornings early morning sea watch

06.00-07.30 from the sea watch hide with AJG who kindly collated the numbers

Common Scoter: 9E

Gannet: 39W       6E 

Cormorant: 5W

Oystercatcher: 1W

Whimbrel: 3W

Kittiwake: 24W

Mediterranean Gull: 1W  juvenile

Sandwich Tern: 13W

Common Tern: 2W

After the sea watch we walked down to The Patch where there was c100 each of Black-headed and Herring Gulls, 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a single Common Tern.

Juvenile Common Whitethroats at the Red and White gates car park this morning

Common Blue

A walk around The Desert and Long Pits found 2 Black Restarts at West Beach,  a single Willow Warbler, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a couple of Blackcap still singing, a tacking Lesser Whitethroat and more Common Whitethroats. A single Clouded Yellow and 2 Painted Ladies were seen otherwise it was very quiet.  

                                                                    Marbled White

1 of 2 Arctic Skuas past the fishing boats this afternoon

14.30-16.00 at the fishing boats

Fulmar: 1W

Gannet: 21W

Cormorant: 3W

Dunlin: 12W

Sanderling: 14W

Whimbrel: 3W

Kittiwake: 37W

Sandwich Tern: 29W

Common Tern: 21W

Arctic Skua: 2W

Auk sp: 1W

Sand Martin: 14 out

Grey seal: 2

Harbour Porpoise: 3+

A late afternoon visit to Scotney found 8 Green Sandpipers, 2 Common Sandpipers and a Whimbrel.

Kittiwakes passing this afternoon

 

30/07/2021

Juvenile Mediterranean Gull

05.30-10.45 with AJG & CP who assisted in collating the numbers,  joined by OL & PT,

Common Scoter: 20W    48E

Fulmar: 4E       1W

Balearic Shearwater: 17W

Gannet: 411W       120E

Cormorant: 13W

Oystercatcher: 2W    6E

Whimbrel: 13W

Curlew: 8W

Dunlin: 2W

Kittiwake: 15W

Mediterranean Gull: 1W      5E

Sandwich tern: 23W    2E

Common Tern: 19W

Arctic Skua: 3W

Swift: 2 out

Sand Martin: 9 out

Porpoise: 4

Kittiwake

some of the 100s of Pochard summering on the ARC

 Late morning early afternoon c500 Swifts moved West also a Black-tailed Godwit also a single Black-tailed Godwit. At the same time several 1,000 Swifts moved west across the Peninsula.

PT did a circuit of the reserve and reported no waders or Terns on Burrowes, just a Cattle Egret on the Boulderwall Fields.

Terrible image of a Balearic Shearwater in mountainous seas off the fishing boats this afternoon

The only way to capture an image was to scattergun the camera along the horizon and hope the Shearwater comes out of trough while you're holding the trigger down.

13.15-16.15 from the fishing boats joined by DS, JTM & OL,

Common Scoter: 2E          35W

Great-crested Grebe: 1 present

Fulmar: 4W

Balearic Shearwater: 2E     2W

Gannet: 22E    72W

Cormorant: 3W

Kittiwake: 3E    8W

Yellow-legged Gull: 4 present all juveniles

Sandwich Tern: 8W

Little Tern: 2 present

Common Tern: 13W

Swift: 108 out

Wheatear: 1 present

Harbour Porpoise: 4+

Grey Seal: 1

At least 4 juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls came to the fishing boats this afternoon

A Dark Sword-grass an uncommon visitor to my trap

 

28/07/2021

The heavy showers this morning meant sea watching from the comfort of the hide was the only option, as expected it wasn't a brilliant watch, but if you're not looking you're not going to see.

05.30-09.15 Thanks to AJG for collating the numbers.

Common Scoter: 10E     17W

Gannet: 18E      159W

Cormorant: 6W

Kittiwake: 9W

Mediterranean Gull: 3E

Sandwich Tern: 26W        4E

Common Tern: 3W

Sand Martin: 34W

Grey Seal: 1

Harbour Porpoise: 1

Juvenile Yellow-legged Gull at the fishing boats this afternoon

14.00-16.00 from the fishing boats joined by CP, OL, JTM

Common Scoter: 4E

Gannet: 3W  

Cormorant: 4E

Sanderling: 29W

Dunlin: 5W

Kittiwake: 1W

Yellow-legged Gull: 2 juveniles

Sandwich Tern: 12 feeding off shore

Common Tern: 9W including my first juvenile of the year.

Swift: 67 out

Sand Martin: 2 out

Swallow: 2 out

Grey Seal; 1

Harbour Porpoise: 2

Sanderling and Dunlin at the fishing boats

 

27/07/2021

 AJG did several sea watches today, the undoubted highlight was a party of 22 Brent Geese moving West, a very early date for returning birds, I'm guessing they are failed breeders, hopefully they are not a portent to the rest of the population. Wheatear by the Polish War memorial 

A wander down to The Patch saw 1 juvenile Black Redstart fly catching from the wall with several Pied Wagtails. I checked the boil and roost for juvenile Yellow-legged Gull but no luck, its certainly unusual not to have seen one by now.

A wander around the trapping area was predictably quiet, just a Wheatear of any note. DW trapped a Willow Warbler in The Moat and DB had 2 in his garden first thing, a few Sand Martins trickled through.

Normally this time of year where this Great White Egret is feeding would be an island, which gives some idea of how high water levels are at the moment. A walk around the reserve saw the usual Marsh Harriers and Egrets but little else. No change at the ARC.

On the wall by the MV this Beautiful Hook-tip is a scarce visitor to my trap, unlike the Ethmia bipunctella next to it which is very common here. 

26/07/2021

My first Arctic Skua of the autumn going east at The point

A wander around at The Point saw my first Arctic Skua of the Autumn, 6, Mediterranean Gulls, c20 each of Sandwich and Common Terns, a Grey Seal and a Black Redstart, also of note 4 Clouded Yellows.  There were 145 Mediterranean gulls at The Varne early morning per AJG) 

Sandwich Tern at The Point

Wood Pigeon on the shore line 

The ARC was again full of eclipse wildfowl, c200 Coot, 300+ Pochard per JY, 200+ Gadwall with Shoveler, Teal, Mallard and Tufted duck, 56 Mute Swans, 2 Great White Egrets, 30+ Common Terns, plus the usual Cormorants and Gulls but no quality. A small pulses of Sand Martins went through also 6 Swifts. A search of the bushes found no returning Willow Warblers or indeed any other returning migrants, though there were some Common and Lesser Whitethroats , Sedge and Reed Warblers all local breeders.

Corn Bunting Dengemarsh

Dengemarsh this evening saw the usual Corn Buntings and Yellow Wagtails, several pulses of Sand Martins went through west. On hay field 1 the first Wigeon I've seen since May, a single Ruff, 4 Common Snipe and 2 Great White Egrets flew over. Burrowes was predictably disappointing with such high water levels and no where for waders to feed. There is a small patch in front of Firth hide, but even if you walk carefully onto the view point everything in front flushes, let alone an excited child running up to the rope, so no chance of seeing anything there, making the viewpoint a White Elephant.  

Wigeon, Hay field 1

Ruff, Hay field 1

Toad by Scott look out

Small Purple-barred

The moth trap yielded a Small Purple-barred, which is a scarce moth on the peninsular, this one was only the 9th Dungeness record, the 8th also in my trap on the same date in 2019.

A tatty Sussex Emerald that made into my trap yesterday

 

23/07/2021

AJG did an early morning sea watch and kindly sent me his sightings.

05.30-07.30

Common Scoter: 17E

Gannet: 16E

Cormorant: present n/c

Oystercatcher: 3E

Mediterranean  Gull: 36E

Sandwich Tern: 17E

Common Tern:  24E

Yellow Wagtail: 1E

Grey Seal: 1

Juvenile Black Redstart  on the perimeter fence

As I was chatting to JTM by the red and white gates at about 08.30 we heard a whirring of wings just overhead like a game bird, by the time I/we got a view of the bird it seemed to disappear into the Gorse at West Beach, we can only think that it was a Quail, despite looking we could not refind it. 

Grey Seal close in shore 

Meadow Pipit still feeding young in the Power Station this morning

The Screen Hide now open, but with the rest of back removed, so in todays force 6 NE wind as soon as I opened a flap the wind just blasted in my face making viewing very uncomfortable and difficult, it was easier and better viewing to stand on the bank, I would imagine that wind speed any more than a zephyr from any direction  will be uncomfortable.

I went to Dennis's Hide this afternoon, as I walked I was assaulted by the wind roaring through all the open flaps, my first thought was that the RSPB had fixed them all open, but I guess they had just been left open by visitors, while closing them I heard a rustle behind me, on turning found I saw an adult Herring Gull crawling under the seats on its side. I was able to catch it easily getting the usual scars from its powerful beak, once I had it under control I could it had swallowed a fishing hook, the line and more fishing hooks were wrapped tightly around its leg and body. I took it to the VC where a member of staff cut the line with scissors off its leg while I held the bird, unfortunately we could only cut the line just inside its beak leaving the hook presumably in its gut, but at least it could now walk, I took it to the lake and released onto the water where it shook its self and flew off, probably to die but maybe it can survive with hook inside it.

The only notable bird I saw was a Common Sandpiper on the Tern Raft, a Greenshank was seen on the hay fields this morning by PT.

Palpita vitrealis was last nights highlight in the MV 

A pristine Delicate