Saturday 23/11/2019

A mild dull start to the day with a stiff SSE wind, but mainly dry.
07.30-09.30 from the sea watch hide with AJG who kindly collated the numbers:
Wigeon: 5W
Red-throated Diver: 3W     8E
Great-crested Grebe: 7 W into Rye Bay
Gannet: 514E
Cormorant: present n/c
Arctic Skua: 1E
Skua sp: 2E
Kittiwake: 8W     109E
Little Gull: 1E
Sandwich Tern: 1W
Guillemot: 57E
Razorbill: 19E
Auk sp: 178E     24W
Harbour Porpoise: 2
Stopping off at Boulderwall Fields on my way home for breakfast saw the 3 Cattle Egrets and a Great White Egret on Cooks Pool, while in the fields 11 Black-tailed Godwits, 7 Ruff and c50 Golden Plover of note.
12.45-16.00 I spent on the reserve looking at Gulls finding 11 Caspian Gulls, 6 adults which included a red ringed Polish bird, a yellow ringed German bird and a North Thames ringed bird, also 2 x 3w and 3 x 1w birds and at least 6 Yellow-legged Gulls.

 Adult Caspian Gull bearing a North Thames ring marked G0UT

Life history of Great Black-backed Gull JK899 on the reserve  this afternoon.

Friday 22/11/2019

A cold grey drizzly start to the day with a stiff South Easterly wind.
07.15-09.15 from the sea watch hide with OL & AJG who collated the numbers:
Wigeon: 1W
Common Scoter: 1E
Red-breasted Merganser: 1W
Great-crested Grebe: 12W into Rye Bay
Red-throated Diver: 10W     9E
Fulmar: 3E
Gannet: 459W
Cormorant: 85W
Merlin: 1 over the beach
Great Skua: 5W
Kittiwake: 20W     10E
Sandwich Tern: Party of 4E into Lade Bay
Razorbill: 38 down
Guillemot: 27 down
Auk Sp: 318W    55E

                                                 1 of 2 adult Caspian Gulls present on Burrowes                                

A couple of hours mid morning scanning the Gulls on Burrowes found 3 Caspian Gulls, (2 adults and a 1w) also 5 Yellow-legged Gulls, (3 adults a 3w and a 2w). At least 5 colour ringed birds were present (3 Norwegian Black ringed GBBGs, a Dutch Green ringed LBBG and North Thames Herring Gull). Of note 3 Black-tailed Godwits were also present from Firth hide. The 3 Cattle Egrets were still frequenting the Boulderwall Fields along with a Great White Egret.

 ! of 3 adult Yellow-legged Gulls on Burrowes today

2w Yellow-legged Gull on Burrowes this morning

Thursday 21/11/2019

With an overcast sky and a stiff cold South Easterly blowing this morning, I joined Owen in the newly roofed sea watch hide, we were hoping for some off shore movement but we were to be sorely disappointed.
07.30-08.30
Red-throated diver: 8W  2E
Gannet: 17W      6E
Cormorant: 835 into Rye bay
Kittiwake: 9W
Mediterranean Gull: 2E
Sandwich Tern: 4E (party of 4)
Guillemot: 1W
Razorbill: 2W. 1 on
Auk sp: 37W      12E

The 3 Cattle Egrets still frequenting the Boulderwall Fields and Dengemarsh area

3 visits to the reserve today saw very little, not even a Caspian or Yellow-legged Gull unlike yesterday when I saw 3 and 5 respectively. While waiting for the Gulls to come into roost the party of 17 Black-tailed Godwits that have been coming to roost for the last 3 days at least came in, also 4 of yesterdays 6 Ruff. 

2 of the 4 Marsh Harriers that were flushing the Gulls

When the Gulls started to arrive so did the Marsh Harriers flushing everything repeatedly, it never ceases to amaze me that Great Black-backed Gulls flush from Marsh Harriers, I'm sure that the Gulls would do a Marsh Harrier serious damage if it had the temerity to attack them. I stayed until after sunset panning through the Gulls but couldn't find anything noteworthy, some of the Gulls were sporting colour rings but it was too dark for me to read them. As drove out of the reserve a Common buzzard and 2 Great White Egrets flew over the track heading to their roosts.

Tuesday 19/11/2019

 Ruff from Makepiece   (double click on the images to enlarge them)

Most of my day was taken up with domestic stuff, so it was nearly 14.00 hrs before I got to the reserve. Although it was fairly quiet I did manage to see a 3w Caspian Gull which came in after sunset, a 2w and an adult Yellow-legged Gull, 5 Ruff and a party of 17 Black-tailed Godwits that dropped in at sunset. Also I managed to read 4 Norwegian Great Black-backed Gull rings, 1 of which was a new one for me.

 2w Yellow-legged Gull from Dennis's

Most of the 17 Black-tailed Godwits that dropped in from of Dennis's at sunset

Yesterday while counting the Cormorants on Burrowes (1,486) for the WEBs, I came across one which was sporting a dark blue ring marked M16. It was ringed as a pullus on 28/04/2016 at Saint-Macouf, Normandy and has not been reported again until I spotted it yesterday. Many thanks to Gerard Debout for coming back to me the ringing information so promptly. Its a pity that some of the British ringers find it so difficult to reply so promptly, some not at all. 

AJG kindly sent me his early morning sea watch numbers. You know the sea watch is poor when the Cormorants are being counted though he did find a Shag among them, still a scarce bird at Dungeness.

07.15-08.45 from the sea watch hide 

Red-throated Diver: 10W  14E

Gannet: 17E

Cormorant: 162W into Rye bay

Shag: 1W

Auk: 2 on sea

Starling: 40 in off sea

I decided to walk down to The Patch and spend an hour scanning through the gulls over the boil, but saw nothing of note.

As the bushes were being done by a KOS group I headed for Scotney, as I climbed out of the car I received a call from Ray O'reilly telling the group had just found a Pallas's Warbler in The Moat, I was soon on site but sadly the bird appears to moved on, a couple of Firecrests and Goldcrests were some compensation.

I'd just finished a late breakfast when I received another call, this time from Dave Scott who was looking at a Stone Curlew from the comfort of his lounge that was roosting with Oystercatchers on Greatstone beach, an excellent house tick for him. Once again in a few minutes I was on site, this I saw the bird even though it had been flushed by a jogger. I managed some record images of the bird which eventually settled further along the beach where it remained for the rest of the day and was seen by many admirers. 

 Stone Curlew on Greatstone Beach take straight into the light

Late afternoon I did the monthly Harrier roost count which was disappointing in the fact that just a single adult male came into roost. This was probably due to the fact that Brett's depot apparently flooded during the week, so they dug a flood alleviation channel, unfortunately the channel was straight through the roost site. Hopefully in time they will return. While I was there several Water Rails were squealing and a flock of 14 Corn Buntings dropped into nearby bushes, as I left site a Little Owl was sat on top of a barn.

Owls!

Another very dull day but at least it was dry
07.30-09.00 from the sea watch hide, RW,OL and AJG who collated the numbers
Brent Goose: 7W
Wigeon: 2W
Common Scoter: 3W
Red-throated Diver: 7W    9E
Gannet 211 up
Cormorant: 520E from Rye bay into Lade Bay
Oystercatcher: 3E
Great Skua: 1E
Sandwich Tern: 1E
Razorbill: 3W
Auk sp: 10W
Starling: 1 flock of 150 in
A quick look around The Point found a Dartford Warbler of note which disappeared into a private garden. The drive home for breakfast saw a Great White Egret at the Southern end of the ARC and 2 Marsh Harriers over the causeway.
A wander along the cycle path at Scotney. found despite my intensive scrutiny of all the feral Geese, nothing unusual. 5 Ruff, 7 Redshank, 4 Curlew, c50 Golden Plover among the many Lapwing. On the main lake at least 70 Mallard which seems unusually high number, a single drake Pintail among them, also many Wigeon and a few Shoveler, no sign again of the Long-tailed Duck.
As I drove past Dengemarsh a Merlin zipped across the road, the Gully was an avian free zone. 3 dogs and their owner saved me the trouble of walking out to switching station.
Early afternoon at the reserve saw 2 Great White Egrets at Boulderwall, while Burrowes was disappointing.
Early afternoon at the fishing boats I joined RW where 4 Red-throated Divers flew West, 2 Razorbills and half a dozen Kittiwakes lingered off shore with a few Gannets. As i drove away from the boats a Woodcock came in off the sea and across the beach to The Desert like a rocket.
Mid afternoon I walked out onto Lydd Ranges accessed from Galloways to hopefully see if any Hen Harriers came into roost. As soon as I got to my chosen view point got comfortable and set my scope up I picked out a Short-eared Owl quartering the rough grass land, then a male Merlin dashed through landing on a distant fence post, a Common Buzzard came over the pines and settled on one of the armoured cars used for target practise, next sweep of the scope and there were 2 Short-eared Owls over the rough field. A few minutes later and there were what I thought at first were 3 Short-eared Owls, until I realised one of them was in fact a Long-eared Owl. It is many years since I saw a daytime hunting Long-eared Owl, though it was very dull and overcast this afternoon. I watched the LEO hunting for several minutes when it dropped into the grass out of sight, I had another scan around and this time there were definitely 3 Short-eared Owls, as I watched these hunting they joined by the LEO, all thoughts of my watching out for Hen Harriers were gone as I enjoyed the Owls for the rest of the afternoon. As the light faded the Owls seemed to disappear or were too distant to see, but the pale shape of Barn Owl came into view.
Many thanks to Paul for for finding my mobile phone which I had left on the car roof before walking out onto the ranges. I have already lost at least 3 like that.

Friday 15/11/2019

1 of 2 1w Caspian gulls at the Patch

Good to see plenty of Gulls at The Patch again

07.30-09.00 from the sea watch hide and The Patch with SO & AJG who collated the numbers:
Brent Goose: 42W   8E
Teal: 8E
Wigeon: 23W
Pintail: 3W
Common Scoter: 31W       9E
Red-throated Diver 1W   4E
Black-headed Gull: c500 present at The Patch
Common Gull: 16 Present at The Patch
Herring Gull: c800 present at The Patch
Caspian Gull: 2 X 1w at The Patch
Lesser Black-backed Gull: 9 at The Patch
Great Black-backed Gull: 26 at The Patch
Razorbill: 2W
Auk sp : 1W
Black Redstart: 1 at The Patch
Starling 68 down in three locks

Black Redstart flanked by Chaffinches behind The Patch

 Great Black-backed Gull that has swallowed a hook and will no doubt die because of it

4 Eider flying west past the fishing boats this morning

10.15-11.15 from the fishing boats:
Brent Goose: 23W   8E
Common Scoter: 1W
Eider: 4W
Red-throated Diver: 1E
Great-crested Grebe: 7E
Gannet: 73W     32E
Cormorant: c200 o/s
Kittiwake: 90W
Sandwich Tern: 1W
Guillemot: 8W
Auk Sp: 159W
Starling: 25W
Pied Wagtail: 2 present
Grey Seal: 1

At least 5 juveniles in this small party of Brent passing the fishing boats this morning 

The same 4 Eider flying back East past the fishing boats this afternoon

13.40-15.10 from the fishing boats with Doug Standard:

Brent Goose: 3W      2E
Common Scoter: 2W
Eider: 4E same birds as this morning
Red-throated Diver: 5W        2E
Gannet: 38E     11W
Dunlin: 6E
Kittiwake: 9E        5W
Sandwich Tern: 3E
Guillemot: 2W
Razorbill: 1W
Auk sp: 28W
Common Seal: 1
Grey Seal: 1
When I left the fishing boats the rain had set in and it was already getting dark.

Thursday 14/11/2019

A thoroughly cold and miserable morning, so I was surprised to find Owen already in the sea watch hide albeit wrapped in a blanket and an umbrella near to hand, as since the felt roof was blown off in the last storm it is nearly as wet inside as it is out.
07.15-09.45 from the sea watch hide with OL, AJG & SO
Wigeon: 2W
Common Scoter: 4W         1E
Red-breasted Merganser: 4W
Red-throated Diver: 1W     1E
Great-crested Grebe: 7E
Gannet: 64W        37E
Cormorant: c1,400 into Rye Bay (at least 2,000 on Burrowes this afternoon)
Lapwing: 1 out (being hunted by the 2 Peregrines which it evaded with some spectacular aerobatics)
Peregrine: 2 o/s
Arctic Skua: 1W
Kittiwake: 108W  17E
Mediterranean Gull: 1E
Sandwich Tern: 5W
Guillemot: 3W      1E
Razorbill: 2W
Auk sp: 52W       19E
Grey Seal: 1
A look around the bushes on The Point found nothing notable.
At Scotney I was unable to relocate the Long-tailed Duck found earlier by Owen, the usual feral Geese were present along with c200 Golden Plover, 3 Ruff and c200 Lapwing.
On Burrowes this afternoon 2 adult Yellow-legged Gulls of note. Also on the islands a regular Lesser Black-backed Gull bearing a red ring marked SHB which was ringed in Suffolk, also 2 Norwegian ringed Great Black-backed Gulls.

Yesterday I went to Copt Point where I read 36 Mediterranean Gull rings, mainly French and Belgian but also 2 from Hungary, 3 From Germany, 1 from the UK and PTA2 from Poland whose life history is above. Double click on image to enlarge.

Tuesday 12/11/2019

With the birding so poor around Dungeness this autumn, I have been struggling to motivate myself to get up and out early. This morning it was after 08.30 before I left home, with a freezing NW wind whipping across the peninsular I was in the shelter of the car at the fishing boats, watching just a few Gannets and Kittiwakes feeding off shore, along with a couple of Sandwich Terns and some Auks tooing and froing but little of note, I was just beginning to think I would be better off at home getting domestic stuff done when a Swallow flew past me heading south, that gave me the encouragement I needed to go to Greatstone and Littlestone just in case there were other migrants around. Greatstone Beach was a complete waste of time, it was like Winalot advert there, loads of seemingly out of control dogs running around with their owners shouting at them. Littlestone however was much better, still loads of dogs, but on leads and sticking to the sea wall path. As the tide pushed up, a flock of c150 Knot were swirling around eventually settling on quiet bit of shingle, Sanderling were running along the incoming tide line with a few Dunlin, Bar-tailed Godwits, Oystercatchers and Grey Plovers headed towards the Varne. Despite walking along to St Mary's and back no Snow Buntings were found  nor anything else.  

 Sanderling, Littlestone Beach

 Part of a flock of c150 Knot on Littlestone Beach

A wander out the back of Scotney saw yet another Swallow, several Marsh Harriers and Common Buzzards, 2 Peregrines, a Merlin, a Sparrowhawk, several Kestrels and a distant ring tail Hen Harrier heading out East Guldeford, with all these raptors around it wasn't surprising that the flock of c1,000 Golden Plover spent most of the time flying around high over the wind turbines,  there were a few Skylarks and Reed Buntings around but I coudn't find any Corn Buntings, all the usual feral Geese were present.
In Lydd Wood a few Great, Blue and Long-tailed Tits, 2 Goldcrests, a Great spotted Woodpecker but sadly no eastern sprites.
Mid afternoon back at the fishing boats a few Gulls came to my offerings of bread but no Caspian Gull.

Monday 11/11/2019

A thoroughly wet, miserable and cold start to the day, even more so now that the sea watch hide no longer has a waterproof roof, as it was torn off during the recent storm.
08.30-10.30 from the sea watch hide joined by AJG
Brent Goose: 1W
Common Scoter: 10W
Red-throated diver: 16W           1 o/s
Great-crested Grebe: 12W
Gannet: 183W         87E
Cormorant: c250 into Rye Bay
Merlin: 1W (looked to be hunting)
Great Skua: 1W
Pomarine Skua: 1W juvenile
Kittiwake: 197W       38E
Mediterranean Gull: 3W (all adults)
Sandwich Tern: 5W
Guillemot: 7W
Razorbill: 16W
Auk sp: 98W         27E
Skylark: 4W
Around the lighthouse area a Chiffchaff, Stonechat and Sparrowhawk were noted along with a very few finches overhead.
I tried to some Gulls in with bread but attracted nothing of note.
A windswept Scotney held 8 Ruff, 9 Redshank, c150 Golden Plover, c250 Lapwing along with the 1,000+ Greylag, 150+ Barnacle Geese, 26 Canada Geese, 37 Egyptian Geese, also 50+ Shoveler, 100+ Wigeon, 40+ Tufted Duck and 40+ Mallard.
A male Merlin was chasing a Pipit at the top end of the Long Pits as I drove to the fishing boats.
13.45-14.45 from the fishing boats yet another very poor afternoons watch:
Great-crested Grebe: 48 o/s
Gannet: 27W
Kittiwake: 22W
Sandwich Tern: 5W
Guillemot: 2W
Auk sp: 9W
Grey Seal: 1
Common Seal: 1