19/06/2023

3 Spoonbills have spent the last couple of days around Dungeness

Even with the arrival of the warmer weather Butterflies  and Dragonflies still seem to be thin on the ground, certainly my moth traps have not been bulging with moths as I would expect this time of year.

There are at least 4 Little Ringed Plovers around the reserve at the moment

The first Green Sandpipers have started to appear on the reserve, probably failed breeders, Bearded Tits seem to be having a poor season as I have yet to see or hear any young birds, the same applies to Bitterns

normally they would be seen making food flights, bringing food to there young in the nests, hopefully they are just running late due to the cold spring. In general there are very few young birds around except for Herring Gulls. There is just a single pair of Common terns on the ARC that look as though they may nest on one of the islands, but I think they have much change of success. 

What was once a common bird around the peninsula is now fast disappearing, only 2 years ago there were several pairs nesting in the fields in front of my house, sadly none now, they used often sit on the roof of my house early mornings when I was emptying the moth trap, so this female Yellow Wagtail in the hay fields was a pleasant sight.

This Norfolk Hawker was at Christmas Dell this afternoon, a recent coloniser at Dungeness.

A Portland Ribbon Wave was the highlight from moth trap in the last few days

15/06/2023

Dainty Damselflies

The Wednesday club visited Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory today primarily to see Dainty Damselflies, Many thanks are due to SBBO warden Steffan who took time out to show us these lovely Damselflies.

Female Dainty Damselfly

7 Red Kites flew through while we were at Sandwich

Scarce Chaser 

A posing Reed Bunting

One of many Lizard Orchids 

The beautiful Swallowtail at Bockhill this afternoon

14/06/2023

2 Black-winged Stilts can just about be seen in this image

As is usual this time of year the birding is fairly quiet. 2 Black-winged Stilts spent yesterday on Burrowes along with 2 Little Ringed Plovers and a drake Pintail, a Spotted Redshank was on the flood, elsewhere of note 4 Red Kites passed over The Point. Reed, Sedge and Cetti's Warblers can all still be seen but numbers appear to be lower than usual to me, as are Common and Lesser Whitethroats,  Hobbys and Cuckoos are still around but elusive, all 3 Egrets species were seen on the reserve yesterday.

Little Ringed Plover from Firth

 

12/06/2023

3 of 4 Avocets on the Flood behind Dengemarsh Hide

2 Green Sandpipers on Burrowes were new in and it was good to see 2 Common Terns on the ARC hopefully more will follow. In general what you saw last week on the reserve is what you wills today.

12 Black-tailed Godwits on the flood

Displaying Common Terns on the ARC

Little Ringed Plovers nesting on the peninsula

Adult male Marsh Harrier at the ARC

Grey Heron watching the pump outflow

This Hairy Dragonfly has seen better days

Rest Harrow

With the warmer weather the moth trap is getting busier, this mornings stars were a Rest Harrow and a Portland Ribbon Wave, both are scarce moths in the UK. A Fox Moth which is quite common but sadly very few have ever graced my MV. Plutella xylostella is a micro moth which is considered to be a migrant, in the last 2 nights I have caught in excess of a 1,000 in my trap.

Portland Ribbon Wave

Fox Moth

Plutella xlostella

Sand Wasp

After presumably paralysing the caterpillar this Sand Wasp carried and dragged it for a several yards along the footpath to Hanson hide, then dropped it while it dug out the entrance to its nest, then dragged the caterpillar down into the hole, where I guess the caterpillar will host the wasps eggs then be eaten by the young.

Many Swifts were again feeding over the ARC, the one above looks as if its crop is full

A drake Garganey sleeping on one of the exposed islands from Hanson

The Southern Marsh Orchids are still looking good in the field beside the track to Hanson Hide

Several Longhorn moths (Nemophora deegerella). were in the bushed beside the track

05/06/2023

A late Arctic Skua passing the bouy

Sea watching as expected in early June in this annoying strong NE wind has not been hugely productive, though there are are still a few Sanderling, Grey Plover, Bar-tailed Godwits, Common Terns, Arctic Terns and Sandwich Terns trickling through. A summer plumage adult male Long-tailed Duck was a surprise on the 5th. On the reserve a few waders have been dropping in, but nothing to get too excited about.

A black Tern spent the day at Burrowes on the 3rd

A gorgeous summer plumage Bar-tailed Godwit with good numbers of Redshanks have on the flood

At least 2 Lapwing chicks on Hayfield 3

 

01/06/2023

A very poor image of my first ever June Great Northern Diver today

An early start saw an entertaining sea watch.

05.45-09.45 joined by SO & RW

Teal: 4E

Shoveler: 11E

Tufted Duck: 2E

Common Scoter: 328E    2W

Great-crested Grebe: 4 present

Oystercatcher: 4E

Grey Plover: 6E

Sanderling: 82E

Dunlin: 2E

Kittiwake: 258E  31W  

Mediterranean Gull: 9E  

Sandwich Tern: 40E    

Common Tern: 248E

Arctic Tern: 42E

Guillemot: 15E    8W

Great Northern Diver: 1E

Fulmar: 3E

Manx Shearwater: 1W

Gannet: 94E    22W

Swallow: 8 in

Grey Seal: 4

Harbour Porpoise: 6+

As the NE wind continued to blow across the peninsula today it was difficult to get myself motivated. A couple of visits to Dennis's Hide saw a handful of Sanderling, Dunlin and Ringed Plover with Greenshank calling unseen, not s single Tern over Burrowes or the ARC. A few more Sanderling were on the ARC islands, also plenty of Swifts, Swallows and House Martins hawking there. There were 23 Redshank and 4 Greenshank on the hay fields per RW.

30/05/2023

A late Black-throated Diver

In general the persistent strong cold North East wind has ruined what is usually a good time of year for migrants, as for the breeding passerines I fear for their success due to the complete lack of insects to feed there young. Even the sea watching has been quite poor with just the odd highlights like the 5 Black terns that struggled East this morning.

An unusually early Clouded Yellow along the track to Hanson a couple of days ago

Crowfoot in the smaller ponds

The plus side to the winds is the speed at which the islands are appearing at the ARC, another couple of weeks and there should be plenty for the birds, alas I saw not a single Tern at the ARC or Burrowes today, there was however 100s of Swifts with smaller numbers of Swallow and House Martins hawking over the lakes with 3+ Hobbys in attendance.

Some of the Black-tailed Godwits that have been frequenting the hay fields

Common Buzzard over the garden