First Smew of the Winter and A Crane!

First thing this morning the 2 Whooper Swans flew into into the Kale field at Cockles Bridge after spending the night on Cooks Pool, they returned to Cooks Pool at Dusk.

A chilly walk along the front of Scotney saw very little of note, the usual 20+ Dunlin, 8 Redshank, 3 Ringed Plovers, 5 Curlew, c50 Golden Plover and c100 Lapwing. With the cold weather I thought there might have been a Woodcock or 2 in the places I have found them before but no luck. At the fishing boats there was no change from the last few days except for fewer Razorbills. 

I went back to the reserve after hearing news of a drake Smew on the reserve, I cant believe I twitched a Smew at Dungeness! Many thanks to Pam for braving the cold walking around the reserve to find it on the New Excavations, hopefully if it stays it will settle down and allow some images. I must admit I didn't think we were going see a Smew this winter on the peninsular.  

1 of the 3 Cattle Egrets still present

Early afternoon one of the three Cattle Egrets was being very showy near Boulderwall. This bird is often on its own as the other 2 seem to chase it away but tolerate a Little Egret hanging around with them. 2 Great White Egrets were nearby at the coral. 

Common Crane at the end of Cooks Pool

Mid afternoon I was in the VC with RW & SM having a warm up while waiting for the Gulls to come into roost, when a visitor came in saying he'd seen a Common Crane from Cockles Bridge and showed us a photograph of it on his phone, needless to say we quickly headed off towards Cockles Bridge, but only had to go as far as Cooks Pool as the bird had already relocated there. I'm sorry I only know the finders name as @naturebotherer on twitter, so thank you for sharing so promptly.

The Crane was quite flighty, it flew to the hay fields for a while before heading back towards Boulderwall, I think it eventually settled for the night in the coral area.

 Common Crane over the hay fields illuminated by the red glow of the setting sun 

No Cold Weather Movement at Dunge!

32 of the 34 Bewick Swans that were at Horses Bones Farm this morning

A drive around Walland in very damp dreary conditions found the Bewick Swans still insitu, nearby at Midley a few each of Yellowhammers, Reed Buntings, Tree Sparrows and Chaffinches were feeding in the stubble. Along Caldecott lane c30 Corn Buntings and sizeable mixed flock of Fieldfare and Redwing. At Cockles Bridge the 2 Whooper Swans were still in the Rape field and the 3 Cattle Egrets were in the sheep field along with a Little Egret and Great white Egret. A Dartford Warbler was behind the fish hut with a Stonechat per OL.

Some of the c30 Corn Buntings along Caldecott Lane

Some of the 100s of Guillemots that littered the sea off the fishing boats

At the fishing boats again 100s of Guillemots and Razorbills, 70+ Red-throated Divers, smaller numbers of Gannets and Kittiwakes, 5 Turnstones not forgetting the 1,000s of Cormorants. A high count this year of 1,725 Great-crested Grebes in Lade bay per DS. The fact that all these birds are hanging around I guess means the bays hold a plentiful supply of food.

Red-throated Divers passing the fishing boats

This afternoon watching Burrowes was very poor, as apart from roosting Cormorants only a few Gulls came in to roost.

Cormorants!

As I cleared the heavy frost off the car early this morning, I heard the familiar call of Bewick Swans flying out of the ARC over me to feed at Horses Bones Farm.  

Early morning at Cooks Pool, the Whoopers Swans roosting with the Mutes

 As I arrived at the sea watching hide wave after wave of Cormorants were flying past out of Rye Bay round The point into Lade Bay. The image above does not begin to show the numbers that swept past. I was trying to count them in blocks of 10 and believe a minimum of 9,000 birds were involved.

After that spectacle I wandered down to The Patch which was very quiet, probably because the boil was virtually non existent. Offshore plenty of Auks were tooing and froing, with a few Red-throated Divers and Gannets also 23 Brent Geese flew East. 

Brent Geese past The Patch

Razorbills and a Guillemot off the fishing boats this afternoon

MH joined me at the fishing boats this afternoon for a bitterly cold and fairly brief sea watch, which once again saw 100s of Razorbills and Guillemots tooing and froing and littering the sea while chasing Sprats, c50 Great-crested Grebes were feeding along with the omnipresent hordes of Cormorants, also 5 Turnstone on the beach and Grey Seal off shore.

Next stop the RSPB visitor centre for a warm up, where a Norwegian ringed Great Black-backed Gull JU850 was roosting. Details below.

CR-Code Black ring with white code: JU850 LBNW(JU850);RBM
Ringing Centre Stavanger Museum (Norway) Ring number 3039430
Species Great Black-backed Gull  Larus marinus 
Sex Unknown Age Pullus

Date Place Coordinates Observers Days/km/°
02.07 2014 Udvaare, Lindesnes, Vest-Agder, Norway 57°58'49"N 007°12'41"E Helberg, Morten -
22.11 2014 Boulogne-sur-Mer "bassin Loubet", Pas-de-Calais, France 50°43'38"N 001°35'14"E Petit-Berghem, Eric 143/884/206
01.07 2018 Udvaare, Lindesnes, Vest-Agder, Norway 57°58'49"N 007°12'41"E Helberg, Morten
Skår, Hogne 1460/0/0
31.01 2019 Dungeness, UK., Great Britain, Great Britain 50°55'51"N 000°56'16"E Casemore, Martin 1674/882/209

1w Caspian Gull

While I was in the visitor centre I saw a 1w Caspian Gull drop in front of Firth Hide, I quickly made my way to the hide, where fortunately the bird was still present and showing well.

Estonian ringed Common Gull P39J

Below are details of the above Estonian ringed Common Gull which David Walker and myself saw at The Patch on 29/01/2019. Many thanks to David for for forwarding the birds history to me.
Larus canus, white plastic P39J (ID= 7440)
• ringed 7.06.2012 with an aluminium ring Estonia Matsalu UA9695 (on right tibia) as a chick in Kakrarahu colony (nest no. 545), Matsalu Nature Reserve, Estonia (58º46’ N 23º26’ E).
• caught 10.06.2014 as a breeding female in Kakrarahu colony, nest no. 724. White PMMA ring P39J added on left tarsus.
• observed 15.05.2015 in Kakrarahu colony, nest no. 620.
• observed 15.05.2016 in Kakrarahu colony, nest no. 210.
• observed 15.05.2017 in Kakrarahu colony, nest no. 409.
• observed 15.05.2018 in Kakrarahu colony, nest no. 315.
• observed 29.01.2019 at Dungeness, Kent, UK (50°55’ N 0°59’ E) by David Walker.

  

  

Myriads of Gulls!

Todays juvenile Glaucous Gull  showing who's the boss

Apart from a short lunch break I spent all day around The Point. There were many 1,000s of Gulls today presumably attracted by a huge shoal of Sprats, many of which were stranded on the tide line and collected in buckets by locals. I took a number of photographs of the the Gulls today but none convey the sheer numbers of birds present.

Another colour ringed Mediterranean Gull E794

a rather distant yellow ringed 1w Caspian Gull at The Patch X21A

 Great Black-backed Gull JWM42 ringed as a chick on 23/06/2018 at Anholt Ørken, Midtjylland, Denmark 

My first Little Gull of the year

A minimum of 60 Red-throated Divers were seen this afternoon, with 18 Mediterranean Gulls, 2 Little Gulls, 14 Razorbills, 100s of Guillemots, 1,000s of Cormorants, 4 figure numbers of Herring Gulls, Black-headed Gulls, Kittiwakes, Common Gulls, smaller numbers of Great Black-backed Gulls, a Lesser Black-backed Gulls, a minimum of 6 Caspian Gulls and 44 Brent Geese. 

Afternoon Gull Roost!

This morning was taken up with hospital check up, but I was back in time for the afternoon Gull roost on Burrowes where higher numbers came in that of late. At least 2 Caspian Gulls came in as well as at least 3 colour ringed Gulls. At the moment I am only using my 7D MK11 coupled with 100-400 MK11 as it is far lighter than the 1DX MK11 & 400DO. 

 Decent numbers of Gulls came into roost this afternoon 

  Caspian Gull I've aged this as 5th cal year but could be wrong, I'm sure someone will put me right.

F5MT I last saw this bird on 04/12/2017

Tough Going!

This weekend in fairly inclement weather at Dungeness, there were still 100s of Auks tooing and froing between the bays, with smaller numbers of Gannets, Great-crested Grebes, Red-throated Divers and Kittiwakes, not forgetting the 1,000s of Cormorants,
On the land the 2 Whooper Swans and 3 Cattle Egrets could still be found around Cockles Bridge and Boulderwall Fields along with 2 Great White Egrets, 100s of Wigeon, Lapwing, Golden Plover and up to 46 Curlew and a single Ruff, all often being spooked by Marsh Harriers and Common Buzzards. In general the reserve was very quiet with occasional sightings of Bittern and Bearded Tits at Dengemarsh and a red head Goosander late this afternoon on Burrowes.
On Walland the 35 Bewick Swans were still Horse Bones Farm though always distant, better views of nice flock of Yellowhammers, Reed Buntings and Chaffinches near Hawthorn Corner, while Caldecott lane held at least 20 Corn buntings as well as a few Fieldfare and Redwing.
A nice drake Goosander has spent the weekend on Bretts Marina with a Little Owl there also.
Scotney on the sward the c175 feral Barnacle Geese still with a few Greylags, if you get there at the right time c500 Golden Plover, c300 Lapwing, 20+ Dunlin and a few Redshank can be seen on the sward, but usually very little is seen as they seem to spook very easily.  

On a thoroughly miserable day around the peninsular I chose to go to The Patch this morning, despite spending an hour going through several 100s of Gulls that were present I was unable to find anything even slightly unusual among them, off shore a few Auks and Red-throated Divers were seen through the dire visibility, I eventually gave up when a single fisherman walked the length of the beach flushing all the Gulls and setting up directly in front The Patch hide. 

Just some of the 4,283 Cormorants I counted on Burrowes this morning

From Boulderwall a flock of 43 Curlew were notable along with a single Great White Egret but otherwise no change. When I got to Dennis's I was confronted by every island covered in Cormorants, as the weather was still poor I decided to count them, all 4,283 of them. The only notable bird was a 2nd cal year Great Black-backed Gull that was ringed as a nestling in Skotholmen, Fedje, Hordaland, Norway 60°47'17"N 004°42'33"E . on the 21/06/2018.

JJ314 Great Black-backed Gull

The 2 Whooper Swans can still be seen from Cockles Bridge, also 3 Cattle Egrets still foraging in that general area. At Scotney once again very little of note , 21 Dunlin being the highlight. From the causeway c350 Pochard on the ARC and another c200 Cormorants.

 Whooper Swans

I had a plumber booked for a morning slot today 07.00-12.30, he arrived dead on 12.30 so that was the best part on my day gone. However it did mean I was at home when the Whooper Swans flew into the field very close to my garden, but as usual a dog walker went out into the field and flushed them. They only take their dogs out there so they don't have to clean up after them, they are certainly not out out there to enjoy the countryside as most the time they have mobile phones glues to their ears, or staring down at them.

Also from the garden this morning 2 Ravens, a Great White Egret, 2 Marsh Harriers and a Common Buzzard.

1 of 3 Cattle Egrets around today

Early afternoon around Cockles Bridge 3 Cattle Egrets were in the horse paddock in the company of a Little Egret, the usual Golden Plover, Lapwing and handful of Curlew was also present.

At Scotney it was very quiet again with small numbers of duck and the usual feral Geese.

I was watching the Little Owl at Lydd camp at 15.40 when the van turned up to take down the the safety flags, I quickly drove down Galloways then made a quick plod along the green wall to the mound to view Sooth Brooks, the light was already fading, so I was not surprised that I didn't see any Short-eared Owls or the male Hen Harrier, however 2 Barn Owls and a Merlin were nice compensation.

Another Quiet Day!

As dawn broke with freezing north wind and a little lying snow on the roof of the car, I made myself another coffee and stayed in the warm for another couple of hours. I did tick off the 2 Whooper Swans for the day from the comfort of home as well as a Cattle Egret and Marsh Harrier.
When I eventually worked enough enthusiasm to drive to the beach a single Cattle Egret was in the garden of Green Hop Farm as I drove by.
From the fishing boats the usual hordes of Cormorants but very few Auks, Kittiwakes and Gannets so I didn't stay long.
I stopped at the New Diggings but found little of note, the same goes for the southern end of the ARC, though 6 Goldeneye were seen from the causeway.
From Boulderwall a few Curlew, Golden Plover, Lapwing, Wigeon and a Great White Egret of note. At Cockles Bridge the 2 Whoopers still, a Common Buzzard and a Stonechat.
This afternoon a wander from the ARC car park to the Tower Pits out to the Airport Pits and back saw very little apart from Marsh Harriers, a few Common Snipe and several Song Thrushes.
Another wander form the ARC car park past Boulderwall out to the back of Hookers was also very quiet, seeing the usual Golden plovers, Lapwing, Stock Doves and Wigeon, a couple of Marsh Harriers, some more Common Snipe  and a nice mixed flock of Reed Buntings, Linnets, Meadow Pipits and Sky Larks. As I drove past Home Leigh Farm 3 Cattle Egrets were in the Horse Paddocks.

A proper winters morning saw myself CP and MH on the reserve doing a WeBs count. Nothing out of the ordinary was seen though nice views of a Bittern were had from the viewing mound, also 2 Kingfishers were seen on Burrowes. A count of just 17 Cormorants on Burrowes was remarkable, though when we went back an hour later 100s had arrived from Lade bay.

From Cockles Bridge the Whooper Swans still with the Mute Swans.

 The 2 Little Owls at Lydd camp trying to hide late morning

Some of the Gulls feeding on the dung heap opposite Herons Park this afternoon

This afternoon a wander down to Denge Marsh Gully was very quiet with a flock c50 Linnets being the highlight.

Late afternoon at the ARC 9 Great White, 4 Cattle and 4 Little Egrets came into roost. 2 Goosander dropped on to the ARC, but best of all was an adult male Merlin putting a spectacular aerobatic display while catching a Starling for its supper.