25/03/2022

Probably the poorest sea watch this year.

06.30-08.30 from the hide AJG

Brent Goose: 18E

Red-throated Diver: 1W

Great-crested Grebe: 11 on

Gannet: 56E       8 feeding

Oystercatcher: 18E

Sandwich Tern: 4E

Carrion Crow: 7 in off

Pied Wagtail: 7 in off

Harbour Porpoise: 3

At the observatory 3 Peregrines tussling around the power station, also some unseen Siskins calling as they flew over and a Brambling.

A quick check of the ARC found 2 Great White Egrets and 10 Little Egrets in front of Hanson, viewed from the screen and at least 2 Goldeneye still. At Cooks Pool at least 2 Glossy Ibis and at Cockles Bridge 4 Cattle Egrets still. 

At Scotney still good numbers of Wigeon, 20, Avocet, Mediterranean Gulls, 4 Tree Sparrows, and the usual feral geese.

At cool Dengemarsh this afternoon still at least Garganey present, plenty of Teal and Shoveler still, also Cetti's Warblers, Bearded Tits and Bittern which boomed half heartedly as I was leaving, most unusual was a Fieldfare at Springfield Bridge.

I'm guessing this bird lost the argument

The winner perhaps

3 of the Garganey at Dengemarsh this afternoon

Fieldfare at Springfield Bridge

24/03/2022

North East breeze with clear skies does not bode well for a good sea watch at Dungeness as to todays watch proved.

 06.30-09.00 from the hide joined by DW

Brent Goose: 130E      

Common Scoter: 8E    2W    

Red-breasted Merganser: 2E

Red-throated Diver: 12E     2W

Great-crested Grebe:  7 on 

Gannet: 14E

Cormorant: present n/c

Oystercatcher: 4E    

Kittiwake: 2E   

Black-headed Gull: present n/c

Mediterranean Gull: 5E

Common Gull: present n/c

Great Black-backed Gull: present n/c

Herring Gull: present n/c

Sandwich Tern: 17E

Guillemot: 2 on

Jackdaw: 9 in

Carrion Crow: 4 in

Harbour Porpoise: 19

Firth viewpoint now that Firth Hide has been removed

Apparently a screen is going to erected, as to whether it will protect visitors from the elements time will tell but I have my doubts. It was a beautiful calm sunny afternoon, yet when I ventured onto Scott Viewpoint it was very cold and uncomfortable there as the North East wind blew straight from across the lake, I now feel justified in not bothering to venture any further than Dennis's Hide this winter, as the viewpoints are totally unusable for anyone actually wanting to look at birds, even in todays calm conditions.

Where Makepiece Hide stood

A new hide is planned to replace the old Makepiece hide when funds are available. On the plus side you can now view the islands if you can keep your optics steady enough and avoid frostbite.

Black-tailed Godwit at Dengemarsh

A beautiful Lapwing on the hay fields

Walking in to Dengemarsh from Springfield Bridge this afternoon a Bittern quite vocal, as were several Water Rails, Cetti's Warblers but no Bearded Tit today. Several Lapwings look as if they are trying to hod territory on the hay fields, lets hope they are more successful than last year though the same problems for them still exist. A single restless Black-tailed Godwit was flying around. On Dengemarsh there were at least 5 drake Garganey and a duck, with reports from Boulderwall and the ARC it seems there were a minimum of 10 birds present. There were still 4 Cattle Egrets at Cockles Bridge but I heard no reports of the Glossy ibis.  

Garganey at Dengemarsh

21/03/2022

5 Garganey among the Brent Geese

A superb day spent sea watching in the company of Jacob Spinks, David Walker & Jacques Turner-moss

05.30-16.15

Brent Goose: 3,600E

Canada Goose: 6E

Shelduck: 2W

Garganey: 32E

Shoveler: 74E

Gadwall: 18E

Wigeon: 2E

Pintail: 371E

Teal: 45E

Tufted Duck: 10E

Eider: 14E       5W

Velvet Scoter: 14E

Common Scoter: 1,041E     

Red-breasted Merganser: 6E

Red-throated Diver: 139E   

Great-crested Grebe: 4E  6 on

Fulmar: 2E    

Gannet: 44E

Cormorant: present n/c

Red Kite: 1 NW

Oystercatcher: 6E

Curlew: 1E    

Kittiwake: 164E   

Black-headed Gull: present n/c

Mediterranean Gull: 24E

Common Gull: present n/c

Great Black-backed Gull: present n/c

Herring Gull: present n/c

Sandwich Tern: 59E

Auk sp: 20E

Peregrine: 1 around

Black Redstart: 1 around

Harbour Porpoise: 6+

Grey Seal: 1

                                                                        Pintail

2 Garganey in with Brent Geese

Pintail and 2 Wigeon (thank you Marcus)

Canada Geese coming along the bund 

Red Kite over power station

20/03/2022

Sunset over my allotted reed bed for this evenings Harrier roost count. 2 Marsh Harriers roosted this evening.

A flock of Pintail passing the sea watch hide this morning

An excellent sea watch this morning, which as is usually the case peters out by the afternoon

Brent Geese

Shoveler

Red-breasted Merganser

Glossy Ibis over Cooks Pool

It was a busy weekend on the reserve with a minimum of 8 Garganey around, 5 Glossy Ibis, a Spoonbill, the red head Smew, 3+ Cattle Egrets, Great White and Little Egrets, Bittern, Bearded Tits, 10+ Goldeneye,

Marsh Harriers displaying, a handful of Wheatears and Black Redstarts, the first Sedge Warbler of the year today and more.  

Spoonbill over Cooks Pool

Cattle egrets at Cockles Bridge

Black swan over Scotney back pools

Roosting Glossy Ibis

18/03/2022

With a cool NW breeze and clear skies I wasn't expecting a great sea watch, but it was pleasant enough sitting and enjoying the sunshine for a few hours.

 07.00-10.00 joined by DW & JS
Brent Goose: 90E (20, 19, 37, 12, 2,)
Common Scoter: 6E  2W 
Red-throated Diver: 21E       1 on
Slavonian Grebe: 1E
Great-crested Grebe: 7E   13 on 
Fulmar: 2E    2W
Gannet: 52E   c30 feeding
Cormorant: present n/c
Oystercatcher: 6E
Kittiwake: 17E    6W
Black-headed Gull: present n/c
Mediterranean Gull: 2E
Common Gull: present n/c
Great Black-backed Gull: present n/c
Herring Gull: present n/c
Sandwich Tern: 10E      4W
Auk sp: 2E
Redwing: 2 in off
Harbour Porpoise: 22

Ruff at Cockles Bridge

I could only see 3 Cattle egrets today at Cockles Bridge

I was at Cockles Bridge when PT messaged to say there were 3 Glossy Ibis at Boulderwall and another 6 at Dengemarsh as well as 2 Garganey and the Spoonbill. A few minutes later I was walking along the entrance track where I could see the 3 Glossy Ibis distantly opposite the top end of Cooks Pool, as I walked a little further I saw in the distance the 6 Glossy Ibis from Dengemarsh in flight albeit very briefly as they disappeared behind the Sallows appearing to drop onto the Hay Fields. PT soon confirmed that was indeed where they were but by the time arrived they had moved on not to be seen again today.

From Dengemarsh Hide the Spoonbill and 2 drake Garganey could be seen easily, both Bittern and Bearded Tit were heard there.

Spoonbill having a little wing stretch

Drake Garganey with Spoonbill behind

5 Glossy Ibis over Boulderwall Farm

This afternoon JY messaged to say there were now 5 Glossy Ibis on Cooks Pool, in the few minutes it took me to get there they flew off but fortunately soon returned. 2 of the 5 looked like the long staying pair leading me to believe that there were 11 Glossy Ibis at Dungeness today, 6 at Dengemarsh, 3 at boulderwall and the the original pair. Another bonus while I was at Cooks Pool with JY, MH et al we watched a Swallow hawking over the ARC which I think is my earliest Swallow in the UK.

5 Glossy Ibis roosting at ARC

16/03/2022

4 of the 31 Garganey that moved East past the hide this morning

 A very pleasant sea watch today, made all the more enjoyable as 31 Garganey was completely unexpected, my hopes were of maybe a singleton tagging onto a Scoter flock. 

I've fired up the moth trap this evening for the first time this year, as it is thought some moths might arrive with the Saharan dust, so I'll look forward  to seeing the contents of the trap tomorrow morning.

06.45-12.30 with CP, RW, JS, DW, OL et al

Brent Goose: 596E (19 parties)

Shelduck: 2W

Teal: 6E

Garganey: 31E  ( 5, 3, 1, 14, 4, 2, 2) 

Pintail: 19E  (2 + 17)

Eider: 1E drake

Common Scoter: 185E       27W

Red-throated Diver: 141E    4W      1 on

Red-breasted Merganser: 1W drake

Great-crested Grebe: 4E    6 on 

Fulmar: 2E      2W 

Gannet: 43E

Cormorant: present n/c

Turnstone: 1E

Curlew: 2E

Sanderling 20E     40W

Kittiwake: 17E     3W

Black-headed Gull: present n/c

Mediterranean Gull: 5E

Common Gull: present n/c

Great Black-backed Gull: present n/c

Herring Gull: present n/c

Lesser Black-backed Gull: 2 present

Sandwich Tern: 14E

Guillemot: 3E   2 on

Razorbill: 9E

Auk sp: 42E

Grey Wagtail: 2 present

Reed Bunting: 1 present

Harbour Porpoise: 6+

Grey Seal: 1

Drake Eider always a treat to see

A high flock of 17 Pintail passing over the the "Doreen T " fishing boat

The immature Spoonbill over Boulderwall Fields early afternoon

Also on Boulderwall Fields today the 2 Ibis and 6+ Water Pipits per BW & GH, also a Merlin reported there today.

At Dengemarsh another Water Pipit, Black-necked Grebe, 2 Ruff, Bittern, Bearded Tits, several Marsh Harriers and the White-fronted Goose all seen today.

Confiding Cattle Egrets at Cockles Bridge gorging on worms yesterday and still present today

The Black-necked Grebe on Dengemarsh yesterday

14/03/2020

Iceland Gull

With mush lighter winds today this mornings sea watch was very slow, though the return of the Iceland Gull was good, albeit some what brief and distant as it disappeared to to the fishing boats on the horizon, also it's always nice to adult drake Eiders barrelling past the hide.

 06.55-08.55 joined by OL

Brent Goose: 5E

Eider: 1E drake

Common Scoter: 37E       1W

Red-throated Diver: 52E    7W

Great-crested Grebe: 7 on

Gannet: 7E

Cormorant: present n/c

Oystercatcher: 2E     3W

Kittiwake: 7E   

Black-headed Gull: present n/c

Mediterranean Gull: 3E

Common Gull: present n/c

Great Black-backed Gull: present n/c

Herring Gull: present n/c

Iceland Gull: 1 (image looks like the 2w bird)

Sandwich Tern: 1E

Auk sp: 3E

Peregrine: 1 present

Harbour Porpoise: 2

Tree Sparrows on Walland

As it was a pleasantly mild and fairly still day I decided to have a long walk out the back of Scotney onto Walland Marsh to check on the Tree Sparrow flock, at least 35 were still present, despite the attentions of Kestrels, Sparrowhawks and Merlin. There were plenty of Skylarks singing but only found 2 Corn Buntings.

Skylark down the Well

I thought I'd have a rest by sitting on the side of a concrete well, I don't why I looked down into the well, but glad I did as I saw a Skylark about floating on the water surface  approx. 2.5 mts down. After a couple of minutes of thinking about how I was going to help it out, I came up with the idea of cutting some reeds from a nearby ditch (fortunately had a pen knife in my jacket) and binding them together to make a sort of rope come cradle that I could manoeuvre under the Lark and lift it out. To my astonishment the cradle held  together for the few seconds required to lift the Lark out. It was obviously sodden and cold so I left it a sheltered tussock in the sun to hopefully dry it and warm it. It was still alive a few minutes later when I started back.

The offending Well

Spoonbill

After lunch I thought I'd have a walk around Dengemarsh in the hope of LRP or Garganey, I'd just got into my car when I recieived a message from David Scott about a Spoonbill on Dengemarsh. A couple of minutes later I parked up at Springfield Bridge just in time to see the Spoonbill appearing to fly off towards Tanners Pool, fortunately David kept his eye on it and saw it land back at Dengemarsh.

When I eventually got to Dengemarsh hide the Spoonbill was doing what they always seem to do, not a lot. While there the Black-necked Grebe put in an appearance. around the hay fields 6 Ruff were showing well on 1 and there were 2 Ringed Plovers and a Lapwing on 3, though water was being pumped on to a rapidly drying 3. In the reeds a Bittern Boomed and Beardies were pinging, making today an excellent days birding.

Black-necked Grebe in front of Spoonbill

Ruff on the Hay Fields