15/12/2023

4 Whooper Swans at the southern end of the New Diggings early this morning

As I drove over the causeway on my way to the sea watch hide this morning I spotted 4 Whooper Swans at the southern end of The New Diggings, presumably the Walland Marsh birds roosted there last night. They were out at Midley late morning with 44 Bewick Swans per RW.

After yesterdays entertaining sea watch, with very still conditions this mornings watch was a very dull affair.

The 3 Amigos are still frequenting their favoured puddle opposite the horse paddocks 

Some of the c3,500 Golden Plover at Scotney today 

I walked from Pigwell to the Sussex end of Scotney and back today, it seems churlish to say it was disappointing with 1,000s Golden Plover, Lapwing, Starlings, Wigeon and of course feral Geese there, but I was disappointed that I was unable to find any wild Geese or scarce wildfowl.

On Burrowes late afternoon 2 Great Northern Divers and the Black-throated Diver were present. I joined RW in a wander around to to Christmas Dell just to see how the works there was progressing, it has certainly opened up the vista but difficult to say to much as much of the work appears to be underwater, due to the very high water levels on the reserve, certainly they are the highest I can recall seeing.

Black-headed Gull TJVV at the fishing boats early afternoon in a very short visit

 

12/12/2023

Poh ringed Back-headed Gull still wintering at the fishing boats today

A slight improvement on yesterday!

Wind SW 5, Temp  11° Cloudy with Drizzle

08.00-09.30 with RW, OL

Brent Goose: 9E

Common Scoter: 10W    2E

Red-breasted Merganser: 2W

Great-crested Grebe: 3E     1W

Sanderling: 1W

Kittiwake:136W       

Little Gull: 3W  (1 juvenile)

Black-headed Gull: present

Mediterranean Gull: 1W

Common Gull: present

Great Black-backed Gull: present

Herring Gull: present

Lesser Black-backed Gull:  6W

Guillemot: 15W       4E

Razorbill: 48W     6E 

Auk sp: 58W         23E

Red-throated Diver: 59W    4E  3 present

Fulmar: 5W 

Gannet: 207W   41E

Cormorant: c800W

Harbour Porpoise: 1  (first I’ve seen for a few weeks)

Grey Seal: 1

The Scotney Brent goose clearly showing its satellite tracker on its back

A wander along the front of Scotney GP I found that the coloured ringed Brent Goose was still present but it was also sporting a satellite tracker, which I had not spotted before, the bird was very distant until today. Hopefully I will get a reply soon from the group that marked it with a list of its travels. Also at Scotney a spectacular c3,500 Golden Plover, but apart from 4 Dunlin and a Curlew I could find nothing else among them.

A look at the ARC from the Willow trail which is only passable on the boardwalk as the water level has risen and still rising, no islands whatsoever left, the highlight in the trail was confiding Chiffchaff, several Water Rails were calling there. On the reserve the 2 Great Northern Divers and Black-throated Diver on Burrowes from Dennis's Hide continue to entertain visitors, which is just as well because the Firth Fence

and Scott Bus Stop offer absolutely no protection from the rain and wind, as for the Makepiece fiasco😞What were the RSPB thinking! consequently visitor numbers are falling off cliff, less birds of interest are being found, a vicious circle. Without basic weather proof hides visitors will not return, mega expensive all singing all dancing hides like the proposed new Makepiece hide are waste of of money, especially if it is going to be positioned in totally the wrong place, so that only a small part of the lake can be viewed and be dazzled by the sun doing so. 

Chiffchaff in the Willow Trail

A brief visit to the fishing boats this afternoon saw another 3w Caspian Gull before the heavens opened for yet another deluge.

3w Caspian Gull by the fishing boats this afternoon

11/12/2023

An uninspiring sea watch this morning staring into the low sun.

 Wind W 4, Temp  10° Clear & Sunny

08.00-09.15  with RW

Common Scoter:7W

Great-crested Grebe: 2W     1E

Kittiwake: 13W

Black-headed Gull: present

Common Gull: present

Great Black-backed Gull: present

Herring Gull: present

Lesser Black-backed Gull:  present

Guillemot: 2W   

Razorbill: 3W 

Auk sp: 34W         20E

Red-throated Diver: 57W    2E

Fulmar: 1W

Gannet: 88W      7E

Cormorant: 462 into Rye Bay

Some of the wild Swans were a little closer to the road than they have been lately, there were 4 Whooper Swans and 22 Bewick Swans in this group. 100s of Fieldfares were in the Hawthorns but few Redwing, nice to see 2 Mistle Thrushes there.

At Scotney the Black-necked Grebe was still present but I was unable to locate any White-fronted Geese, the main spectacle was c2,000 Golden Plover on the sward, alas I could find nothing unusual among them.

On the reserve the main intent is the 2 Great Northern Divers and the Black-throated Diver (a Red-throated Diver was also reported today). The 3 Glossy Ibis have returned to the Horse Paddocks after disappearing for a while during the cold spell. There were plenty of feral Geese on the Boulderwall Fields but no wild geese were found.

2 Great Northern Divers and a Black-throated Diver

Great Northern Diver and a Black-throated Diver

                                                                Black-throated Diver

 

Great Northern Diver 

09/12/2023

Instead of counting everything today I just watched and admired the birds 

Little Gulls making light of todays gales

1w Little Gull today

100s of Gannets were streaming past today, there were also many Red-throated divers, Kittiwakes, Auks and probably 1,000s of Cormorants all coming out of Lade Bay.

When the clouds cleared briefly this afternoon the Great Northern Diver on Burrowes was gleaming, there was 2 present today and also a Black-throated Diver per CT

White-fronted Geese at Cooks Pool yesterday, alas no sign of them today

Part of a flock of at least 40 Tree Sparrows on the marsh yesterday

07/12/2023

We were hopeful of a much more exciting sea watch this morning, sadly it was not the case. 

Wind S 5, Temp  5° Cloudy 

07.30-09.30 with RW, PE, DW et al 

Brent Goose: 9W

Common Scoter: 39W    16E

Kittiwake: 33W       15E

Little Gull: 2W 

Black-headed Gull: present

Mediterranean Gull: 7E

Common Gull: present

Great Black-backed Gull: present

Herring Gull: present

Lesser Black-backed Gull:  present 

Guillemot: 33W       7E

Razorbill: 46W     9E 

Auk sp: 319W         48E

Red-throated Diver: 16E       5W

Fulmar: 1W 

Gannet: 279W   197E

Cormorant: 1,800 E  In first 15 minutes 

Carrion Crow: 2 in off

Grey Seal: 1

Common Seal: 1

A very nice 3w Caspian Gull came to my stale bread offerings by the fishing boats earl afternoon

A 1w Yellow-legged Gull dropped into the melee

Even a juvenile Kittiwake had look but didn't stay

Polish ringed Black-headed Gull TJVV appeared as soon as the piece of bread was thrown as usual

There was still at least 1 Great Northern Diver on Burrowes today along with a couple of Goldeneye

The Avocet narrowly avoided being trampled at Scotney yesterday, there was no sign of it today nor any wild geese. The female type Common Scoter was still present though.

06/12/2023

An hour this morning watching from outside the hide as it was much warmer standing in the weak winter sun than sitting a freezing cold hide, a shame that so little was seen.

Wind NW 1, Temp  0° Clear & Sunny

08.00-09.00 with RW

 

Common Scoter: 6W

Great-crested Grebe: 2E

Kittiwake: 4W

Black-headed Gull: present

Common Gull: present

Great Black-backed Gull: present

Herring Gull: present

Lesser Black-backed Gull:  present

Guillemot: 4W    2E

Razorbill: 6W 

Auk sp: 25W         7E

Red-throated Diver: 1W    7E

Gannet: 31W      14E

Cormorant: 183 into Rye Bay

Grey Seal: 1

Some of the 21 Greater White-fronted Geese that were at the Sussex end of Scotney today, 5 were seen early in the day later joined by more pushed from a hidden field by sheep.

There appears to be at least 2 Great Northern Divers on the reserve, very little else of note there at the moment though this may due to the extensive conservation work being carried out.

A sickly Avocet with a broken bill at Scotney today

Little Owl enjoying the warm sunshine at Scotney today

A female/immature Common Scoter on one of the smaller pits at Scotney

A Darvik ringed Brent Goose at scorned today, most probably Dutch ringed, I await details

05/12/2023

 

1 of 3 Black Redstarts behind the sea watch hide this morning

Wind NNW 3, Temp  4° Cloudy with drizzle

08.00-09.30  from the sea watch hide:

Teal: 4W

Great-crested Grebe: 2E

Turnstone: 2 present

Kittiwake: 9W

Black-headed Gull: present

Mediterranean Gull: 1W

Common Gull: present

Great Black-backed Gull: present

Herring Gull: present

Lesser Black-backed Gull:  5  present

Guillemot: 58W

Razorbill: 97W 

Auk sp: 331W         27E

Red-throated Diver: 41W    1E

Gannet: 81W      17E

Cormorant: 421 into Rye Bay

Black Redstart: 3  behind hide

Meadow Pipit: 2 behind hide

Chaffinch: 4 behind Hide

Grey Seal: 3

1w Caspian Gull at The Patch this morning

A Great Northern Diver was at the southern end of The New Diggings mid morning. Again no sign of any Glossy Ibis so I assume they have moved on, also no sign of any Cattle Egrets. The drake Goosander at Camber appears to have moved on per JY.

04/12/2023

I was happy to see Polish ringed Black-headed Gull TJVV has returned today to Dungeness for at least its fourth winter.

An excellent if the most comfortable of sea watches today, even in the shelter of the hide the strong SSE wind blew straight in through the slats. 

08.00-09.30 with RW & OL 

Wind SSE 5, Temp  6° Cloudy with rain

Brent Goose: 56E

Common Scoter: 1W

Great-crested Grebe: 2W

Kittiwake: 68W

Little Gull: 3W (1 juvenile)

Black-headed Gull: present

Mediterranean Gull: 1E

Common Gull: present

Great Black-backed Gull: 47W

Herring Gull: present

Lesser Black-backed Gull:  3W 

Sandwich Tern: 1W

Guillemot: 13W

Razorbill: 112W 

Auk sp: 145W

Red-throated Diver: 61W 

Fulmar: 13W 

Gannet: 958W

Cormorant: Present

Grey Seal: 1 

At present there are up to 1,000 Greylag Geese out in the fields in front my house, among them today were these 3 White-fronted Geese.

This is the first drake Goosander I have seen for a few years, this one is currently residing on the small pool c150mts west of Rye Golf Club. 

There was still at least 1 Great Norther Diver present on the reserve

I've not seen any Glossy Ibis for a several days and am inclined to think they may have moved on due to the cold weather. There were still up to at least  8 Cattle Egrets around at the weekend. On Walland there are still at least 4 Whooper Swans and 30+ Bewick Swans all of which are are feeding just about as for from the road as is possible.

A mid week check of a Harrier Roost with CP & RW produced 25 Marsh Harriers, a male Hen Harrier and a Short-eared Owl.

28/11/2023

 (Not a very enthralling watch this morning)

Wind N 4, Temp  4°

08.00-09.00 from the Hide with RW:

Tufted Duck: 1W (female)
Great-crested Grebe: 9 on
Turnstone: 2 present
Oystercatcher: 2W
Kittiwake: 6W
Black-headed Gull: 14W
Mediterranean Gull: 1W
Common Gull: 14W
Great Black-backed Gull: 9W
Herring Gull: present
Lesser Black-backed Gull: 2W
Great Skua: 2E
Guillemot: 4E
Razorbill: 3E    
Auk sp: 23E
Red-throated Diver: 14E   13W     
Gannet: 96E
Cormorant: 943W
Grey Seal: 1

The Great Northern Diver was again showing well on Burrowes, but little else of note to be seen there, though RW did see a male Hen Harrier at the back of Dengemarsh. 

one of 8 Stonechats around the sand pit

I nipped over the the border into Sussex today and visited the Jury Gap Sand Pit and the westernmost Scotney pit, places I don't visit enough. The surprise in the sand pit was a party of 4 Bearded Tits, also 8 Stonechat and a Redshank there, the contractors have started to grade the Northern bank so presumably getting it ready to flood. The westernmost Scotney Pit had 4 Little Gulls hawking over it, another Redshank, 15 Dunlin and 6 Little Grebes. It looks as though another pit may be being dug between the Sand pit and westernmost pit, so I'll have to make more frequent visits to see what's happening.

1w Little Gull over the westernmost Scotney Pit

I have no idea why this Great White Egret walked into such deep water at the ARC this afternoon.