Last few Days

Black-tailed Godwits from Hanson

Hanson hide has been giving excellent views of some of the birds on the ARC, delighting a number of visitors.

In general wader passage is very slow, the first Little Stint of the year arrived yesterday but was gone by this morning, an elusive Wood Sandpiper has been on Dengemarsh, which fortunately is now looking good for waders as there will be much disturbance in front of Hanson Hide this week with the necessary remedial works to the islands.

The bushes around the peninsula have played host to at least 4 Pied Flycatchers and several Spotted Flycatchers, Whinchats,  Willow Warblers and the usual Sylvia warblers.

The sea is still very unproductive but will hopefully improve in the next few days.

Glossy Ibis from Hanson

Little Egret catching Marsh frogs from Hanson

Juvenile Grey Heron from Hanson

2 Garganey from Hanson

Lapwing from Hanson

5 of the 8 Cattle Egrets dropping into the ARC

This Herring Gull seems able to feed well despite its tongue hanging out of a hole in its throat

1 of 45 Mediterranean Gulls past the fishing boats

Evergestis pallidata is relatively common in England but this is the first one to my trap

Beautiful Marbled in the trap this morning

 

12/08/2022

A newly fledged Cetti's Warbler trapped and ringed this morning

 07.30-09.00 from the sea watch hide:
Common Scoter: 1W      2E
Fulmar: 1W
Gannet: 16W     5E
Cormorant: 3W      1E
Oystercatcher: 2W
Kittiwake: 1 juvenile  present
Sandwich Tern: 49E         25W
Common Tern: 2E
Arctic Skua: 3E
Guillemot: 1 present
Sand Martin: 22E
Swallow: 13 in 
Wheatear: 2 present
Grey Seal: 1
Harbour Porpoise: 3
Hummingbird Hawkmoth: 6+ 

There has been a trickle of migrants around the peninsula, 3 Pied Flycatchers, Spotted Flycatcher, Common Redstart, several Whinchats and Wheatears as well as the expected Willow Warblers, Common Whitethroats and Garden Warbler.

This evening at Dengemarsh there were plenty of islands visible, even the ridges are starting to appear which I have not seen for many years, though it looked good for birds there only 3 Glossy Ibis, 2 Great White Egret and 25 Black-tailed Godwits present, c200 Sand martins dropped into the reeds to roost.

Hummingbird Hawkmoth

Linnet at Lydd Fields

Juvenile Swallow Lydd Fields

Sparrowhawk Lydd Fields

10/08/2022

Wheatear in The Desert

Another baking hot day around Dungeness with a dribble of migrants. The sea is still very unproductive with just a a few each of Sandwich Tern, Gannet and Mediterranean Gulls of any note. A wander around the Desert and trapping area found a few Wheatears and a few calling Willow Warblers but little else.

At The ARC during 4 visits today 100s of Sand Martins with smaller numbers of Swallows and House Martins, 5 Glossy Ibis, 7 Cattle Egrets that are mostly seen in the Boulderwall Fields, 4 Garganey, Common and Green Sandpipers,Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers, Black-tailed Godwits and the usual wildfowl. Common Whitethroats, Reed and Sedge Warblers were noticeable by their absence. My personal highlight of the day was finding a colour ringed Cormorant, (I'm easily pleased).

There are still 100s of Sand Martins around Dungeness

Juvenile Swallow at the ARC car park

Green Sandpiper

Cattle Egrets

Black-tailed Godwit

Party of 4 Garganey at the ARC from Hanson

Cormorant that I believe was ringed in Cheshire. I await details.

08/08/2022

Black-tailed Godwit

10+ species of wader can be seen at the ARC for those with plenty of time on there hands

Glossy Ibis

Herons are well represented at the ARC with up to 6 Glossy Ibis, 4 Great White Egrets, 6 Cattle Egrets, 13 Little Egrets, Grey Herons and Bittern, Water Rails are sometimes seen though mainly heard, Reed, Cetti's and Sedge Warbler are still present, along with Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Common and Lesser Whitethroat. Wildfowl are well represented with the usual feral Geese, Garganey, Wigeon, and the common dabblers and diving duck. Sand Martins are still around in good numbers. 

Little Egret

 
                                                                       Lapwing

2 Whimbrel dropped into the ARC briefly

A distant Bittern from Hanson Hide

Cattle Egrets at Boulderwall

The sea is still non productive and likely to remain so in the predicted North Easterlies. There are still Wheatears and Black Redstarts around The Point but the bushes are generally quiet.

1 of 2 juvenile Black Redstarts in the Lighthouse Garden

there 4 Hummingbird Hawkmoths by the track to the sea watch hide

Work going on by the The Patch

04/08/2022

Glossy Ibis in front of Hanson Hide

The ARC is still the best place to see birds around the reserve, Egrets and Ibis are almost constantly on view as are Garganey with careful scrutiny. Black-tailed Godwits, Common Sandpipers, Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers, Common Snipe, Redshank and Oystercatchers are usually present, though a juvenile Marsh Harrier often puts the birds up but they soon settle down, an elusive Wood Sandpiper has been present for the last couple of days. There were many Sand Martins and a kingfisher is regularly seen flashing past the hide. Yellow Wagtails are to found on the margins among the Pied Wagtails, along the Willow Trail today Sedge, Reed, Cetti's and Willow Warblers along  with Chiffchaff and Blackcap. There were good numbers of Warblers around The Point today.

I visited Burrowes again today, there plenty of Gulls and eclipse Wildfowl and many Sand Martins, but apart from a few Lapwing and Oystercatchers, a couple of Ringed Plovers wader numbers were again abysmally low, I have no idea why as the islands look good.

Little Egret in front of Hanson Hide

Garganey from Hanson Hide

1 of a party of 8 Golden Plovers that made a brief stop at the ARC

02/08/2022

Sea watching is still only producing small numbers of Gannets, Kittiwakes, Common and Sandwich Terns

with the odd Dunlin and a surprise Common Snipe. Though bird of the day was Jacobs Black Guillemot, which would have been a new bird for Dungeness for me, sadly I missed it by a few minutes. There appears to be very little feeding off shore, so presumably there is no fish in the bay which would explain why there are so few Harbour Porpoises at the moment.

The reserve is also incredibly quiet avian wise, though the usual Egrets/Ibis have been showy. Wader numbers are low with single figure counts of Redshank, Common Sandpiper, Ringed Plover, Little Ringed Plovers and Black-tailed Godwits, a Wood Sandpiper dropped into the ARC this evening, also up to 6 Garganey have been present. Sand Martins are still around in large numbers with smaller numbers of Swallows and House Martins.

Cattle Egrets at Boulderwall

Black-tailed Godwits from Firth viewpoint

 

Garganey from Hanson

Glossy Ibis from Hanson

Little Egret from Hanson

Juvenile Wheatears around the fishing boats

German colour ringed juvenile Caspian Gull at the fishing boats

Juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls at the fishing boats

Juvenile Herring Gull with a fishing weight attached to its leg at the fishing boats