09/03/2022

Eider passing the Bouy this afternoon

It's that time of year again so most of today was spent sea watching. Many thanks to the new Dungeness Observatory assistant warden Jacob Spinks for keeping the log. Also present RP, RW, CP, 

06.15-11.00 & 13.00-16.30 from the sea watch hide: 

Dark-bellied Brent Goose: 2192E

Pale-bellied Brent Goose: 1E

Shelduck: 1E

Teal: 29E

Shoveler: 39E

Wigeon: 17E

Pintail: 4E

Teal: 40E

Eider: 10E

Velvet Scoter: 4E

Common Scoter: 312E

Red-breasted Merganser: 6E

Red-throated Diver: 290E     5W  

Black-throated Diver: 1E  

Fulmar: 10E   1W 

Great-crested Grebe: 5E   

Fulmar: 18E    2W

Gannet: 47E    

Cormorant: Present n/c

Oystercatcher: 30E

Curlew: 5E

Dunlin: 3E

Kittiwake:  2,819E

Black-headed Gull: 104E

Little Gull: 4W

Mediterranean Gull: 43E

Common Gull: 89E

Great Black-backed Gull: present n/c

Herring Gull: present n/c 

Sandwich Tern: 17E

Guillemot: 47E 

Razorbill: 16E 

Auk sp: 1,424E   

Peregrine: 1E

Skylark: 1E      

Harbour Porpoise: 1

Pale-bellied Brent Goose (top left)

Some of the 2,000+ Brent Geese past today

More Eider passing the hide

Eider with Shoveler

Rather distant Velvet Scoters

Black-tailed Godwit at Cooks Pool lunchtime

Black-tailed Godwits at Cooks Pool lunchtime

Whilst driving back home for lunch, the 2 Glossy Ibis flew over the ARC towards the fishing lakes. At Cockles Bridge  the Cattle Egrets were still insitu. There appears to have been very little passerine arrivals today.

07/03/2022

A bitterly cold sea watch, even in the hide the Easterly wind made in uncomfortable. There were plenty Gannets moving slowly East as was most things, the only surprise was a drake Eider that flew West my first of the year.

 07.00-09.00 from the hide with Jacob Spinks

Pintail: 2E 

Common Scoter:1E        5W

Eider: 1W drake

Red-throated Diver: 23E    2W     

Great-crested Grebe:  103E     34 on 

Fulmar: 17E   

Gannet: 508E       

Cormorant: Present n/c

Oystercatcher: 1E

Curlew: 2E

Kittiwake:  71E    

Black-headed Gull: present n/c

Common Gull: present n/c

Mediterranean Gull: 1E 

Great Black-backed Gull: present n/c

Herring Gull: present n/c 

Guillemot: 112E

Auk sp: 23E         

Harbour Porpoise: 4

The Smew doing its best not be seen under the far bank of the ARC + a Great White Egret

2 of the 3 Black-tailed Godwits at Cooks Pool today

Burrowes was some what windswept, most the duck sheltering under the far bank, from Dennis's I was unable to find anything notable among them, I certainly wasn't going to try any of the viewpoints in todays wind, such a shame as I'm sure lots of birds remain unseen due to the lack of hides.

Another short sea watch early afternoon from the shelter of the fishing boats saw very little.

The 4 Cattle Egrets are still doing their thing at Cockles Bridge

Yellowhammer at a feeding station on Walland

Great Tit at the feeding station

The resident female Blackbird in my garden

Brambling at the Visitor Centre feeding station at the weekend

04/03/2022

 It didn't bode well as I made my way to the sea watch hide early this morning with the fog blaring. Ever the optimist I stared into the fog, after an hour of seeing very little I conceded defeat and had a wander around the lighthouse area.

At West Beach 6 Redwing appeared out of the Gorse, then flew off high NE, the next patch of Gorse a Chiffchaff appeared and flew off high towards the trapping area, then a Song Thrush appeared  followed by a couple of Blackbirds all flew off high NE.

One of six Redwing at West Beach

Song Thrush with a singing Dunnock at West beach

Firecrest, Lighthouse Garden

Firecrest, Lighthouse Garden

The Lighthouse garden hosted at least 2 Firecrests, with Stonechat and Black redstart nearby.

One eyed Fox at the old Lighthouse

By the time I'd got my domestic stuff done the rain had set in so I drove down to Dennis's Hide and was pleasantly surprised to find a few Gulls on the islands to look at. I was pleased locate 2 1w Caspian Gulls, also 14 Lesser Black-backed Gulls(passage migrants or return breeders). There were at least 8 Goldeneye present also 3 Black-tailed Godwits.

1w Caspian Gull on Burrowes Pit

                                                   1w Caspian Gull on Burrowes Pit

Robin with nesting material late afternoon by the screen hide ARC

Late afternoon in the drizzle at the ARC an Avocet on the old Cormorant island and a Robin nest building were the only notable sightings. At the other of the ARC the 4 Cattle Egrets dropped into the roost very early, while opposite the gate entrance the red head Smew could be seen on the New Diggings.

 

03/03/2022

Quite a busy morning sea want today with 1,800+ Brent Geese past, a few Dabblers and the usual Auks Divers Gannets and Kittiwakes. I packed up early as DW had located a grounded Woodlark which is a scarce bird on the peninsula, I only managed 3 flight views of it and had to leave for some domestic stuff. I came back to the sea watch for 2hrs at midday, which was very pleasant sitting in the warm sunshine but very few birds moving and appalling visibility. The Cattle Egrets are still inset, also a Bittern has been heard booming from near the pump on the hayfield path for the last couple of days per CT & RW,  also Bearded Tits there.

Yesterday CT found the first Black-necked Grebe of the year on the peninsula and with todays Woodlark brings the patch year total to 132.

While looking at the Grebe we heard news of the Green-winged Teal at the excellent Rye Harbour NR, Colin offered to take me and Richard and very soon we there, getting excellent views of the bird on Flat Beach, nearby at the harbour mouth the 1w Iceland Gull was being particularly showy flying just above our heads, it was just a shame that the weather was so gloomy making photography rather challenging.

Black-necked Grebe on the far side of Burrowes from Dennis's yesterday

Green-winged Teal, Rye Harbour yesterday

                              Green-winged Teal being bullied by the Eurasian Teal

1W Iceland Gull Rye Harbour yesterday

1w Iceland Gull dropping DNA

 

01/03/2022

This flock of Brent flew past the fishing boats at 15.28, gives you an idea of what the visibility was like today. I make it 104 birds.

A thoroughly miserable day on the peninsula, the sea watch reflecting the poor visibility.

 07.30-09.30 with OL
Shelduck: 3 E
Common Scoter: 6W
Red-throated Diver: 37E   2W     
Great-crested Grebe:  41W     5E        3 on   
Fulmar: 2E    1W
Gannet: 24E     68W     
Cormorant: Present n/c
Kittiwake:  27E   72W  
Little Gull: 1W adult 
Black-headed Gull: present n/c
Common Gull: present n/c
Mediterranean Gull: 1W  
Great Black-backed Gull: present n/c
Herring Gull: present n/c 
Lesser Black-backed Gull: 2E
Guillemot: 11E  9W
Razorbill: 9W
Auk sp: 27E   81W      
Harbour Porpoise: 2

A late morning visit to Burrowes was predictably disappointing in the miserable weather, I only went to Dennis's Hide so could only guess what might have been at the Makepiece end of the lake.

It didn't look as though any of the visitors who said they prefer lookouts to hides visited the reserve today, unless they all arrived on foot as the car park was empty, except for staff vehicles and 1 couple who also only visited Dennis's Hide. 

1 of the Cockles Bridge 4 appears to have an injury?

2 Red-legged Partridges were a bonus at Cockles Bridge this afternoon

THE or 1 of the Iceland Gulls at The Patch this afternoon 

28/02/2022

2 Velvet Scoters past the hide this morning

A reasonable sea watch this morning with my first Sandwich Tern of the year, also the first Velvet Scoters since mid January and the first Great Skua for a couple of weeks.

 07.00-09.15 with CP & OL

Brent Goose: 28E    (2 parties)

Shelduck: 1E

Teal: 8E

Shoveler: 2E 

Velvet Scoter: 2E

Common Scoter: 22E

Red-throated Diver: 99E     15W     

Great-crested Grebe:  11E   

Fulmar: 10E    2W

Gannet: 80E      88W     

Cormorant: Present n/c

Oystercatcher: 4E

Curlew: 1E

Kittiwake:  288E      

Black-headed Gull: present n/c

Common Gull: present n/c

Mediterranean Gull: 8E  

Great Black-backed Gull: present n/c

Herring Gull: present n/c 

Sandwich Tern: 1E

Great Skua: 1W

Guillemot: 183E   19W

Razorbill: 8W

Auk sp: 703E   59W      

Harbour Porpoise: 1

Probably the only sort of Albatross I'll see at Dungeness 

27/02/2022

Brent Geese and Shelduck passing the sea watch hide this morning

As a stiff South Easterly was blowing I had hopes of a good sea watch this morning, it was not quite as good as hoped for but a definite improvement, with good numbers of Brent Geese and Gannets on the move, also a few dabblers. 

 07.15-10.00 with CP & OL

Brent Goose: 627E (24 parties)

Shelduck: 17E

Teal: 29E

Shoveler: 7E (4 drakes)

Common Scoter: 12E

Red-throated Diver: 159E     88W     

Great-crested Grebe:  15E   

Fulmar: 18E    2W

Gannet: 1,385E      17W     

Cormorant: Present n/c

Oystercatcher: 9E

Kittiwake:  104E       19W

Black-headed Gull: present n/c

Common Gull: present n/c

Mediterranean Gull: 1E  2W

Great Black-backed Gull: present n/c

Herring Gull: present n/c 

Guillemot: 47E   7W

Auk sp: 379E         

Harbour Porpoise: 1

Whilst I enjoyed a hot breakfast and got some domestic stuff done, RW braved the bitter SE wind on the reserve and was scantly rewarded with a few Ruff, Ringed Plover, Curlew, Snipe and Dunlin on the Hay Fields but little else. The Cattle Egrets were still inset at Cockles Bridge this morning.

An unplanned visit to the fishing boats this afternoon thanks to call from OL to say the Iceland Gull had returned to the roost. A few minutes later I arrived not expecting the bird to still be present, as because as usual on a sunny Sunday lots of tourists and there dogs were wandering around, so I was surprised to find the bird still present though not for long as the Gulls were soon flushed by wandering tourists.  

2w Iceland Gull by the fishing boats this afternoon

2w Iceland Gull by the fishing boats this afternoon

It was Harrier count day today after it being abandoned last weekend due to the weather, once again no Harriers roosted in the reed bed I was watching though there were plenty of squealing Water Rails and some Bearded Tits as some recompense.

26/02/2022

Gannets passing East this morning

The morning sea watches continue to be fairly predictable, hopefully in the next week or two they will liven up. 

 07.15-09.15 joined by RW, Ol, SO, 

Brent Goose: 21E
Shelduck: 1W
Common Scoter: 5E
Red-breasted Merganser: 2W
Red-throated Diver: 37E     98W     
Great-crested Grebe:  5E     3W         47 on  
Fulmar: 3E    2W
Gannet: 151E      36W     
Cormorant: Present n/c
Oystercatcher: 19E
Kittiwake:  189E       42W
Black-headed Gull: present n/c
Common Gull: present n/c
Mediterranean Gull: 1E  1W
Great Black-backed Gull: present n/c
Herring Gull: present n/c 
Guillemot: 242E   79W
Razorbill: 14E      37W
Auk sp: 940E    192W      
Harbour Porpoise: 1

The Iceland Gull at the fishing boats on 23/02/2022

The 2 Glossy Ibis are still around but have become very elusive, the same can be said for the red head Smew on the ARC, at least the Cattle Egrets are remaining loyal to Cockles Bridge. Great White Egrets can be seen just about anywhere on the peninsula. The 5 Whooper Swans were still at Baynham Farm this morning per GH. Tree Sparrows, Corn Buntings and Yellowhammers can all be found on Walland but take some searching out.

Cattle Egret at Cockles Bridge today

21/02/22022

 07.50-08.50 from the hide.

Brent Goose: 1W

Red-throated Diver: 5W    2E

Great-crested Grebe: 4E   1W     114 on

Fulmar: 13W   

Gannet: 61W    45E

Cormorant: present n/c

Kittiwake:  24W    7E

Black-headed Gull: present n/c

Common Gull: present n/c

Great Black-backed Gull: present n/c

Herring Gull: present n/c 

Lesser Black-backed Gull: 4W

Guillemot: 8W  20E

Razorbill: 1W     1E

Auk sp: 22W    9E

With the strong winds continuing with frequent showers and the reserve still shut, I spent most of the day on the beach playing with my new Canon R5.

1,000s of Gulls feeding on the abundance of shellfish washed ashore by the storms

Kittiwake

Kittiwake with Shellfish

Black-headed Gull joining the feast

Common Gull with Clam

Cormorant