23rd and 24th January

A very samey couple of days, still at Dungeness; very calm but heavily overcast, dull and dreary with not too much in the way of new birds.   A walk round the Obs area on the 23rd produced a single Firecrest at the top Long Pit, 3 Cetti’s Warblers and 3 Kestrels before a drive round produced counts of 82 Pochard and 172 Barnacle Geese (local breeding feral-types) at Scotney and a few birds down Dengemarsh Road including another Firecrest, 21 Linnets, 20+ Reed Buntings, a Chiffchaff, a good flock of 115+ Pied Wagtails feeding with the Golden Plover and Lapwings, an adult male Marsh Harrier, a Buzzard and 17 Egyptian Geese.   

A walk from the seawatch hide, round the point to the fishing boats and back across the desert in the morning of the 24th produced 70+ Red-throated Divers offshore but not a lot else while birds on the land included a Firecrest feeding with a Goldcrest, a pair of Stonechats and 2 Stock Doves.   Not much else through the day with an impressive count of 356 Shoveler on ARC and an increased 40 Bewick’s Swans out at Midley Farm where the highlight of the day was actually a Weasel which ran across the road carrying prey, dropped it and gave awesome views as he plucked up the courage to come back out in the open to retrieve his rodent lunch.

Weasel

Sleeping Fox on Littlestone Beach

Goose Barnacles

21st and 22nd January

A couple of days birding at Dungeness; the 21st was a stunning, flat calm, sunny day, the sea was quiet first thing before a walk round the Obs recording area produced 2 Firecrests (one in the Moat and one at the top Long Pit), 12 Long-tailed Tits and 2 singing Cetti’s Warblers.   A walk round the RSPB in the afternoon was also quiet but lovely in the calm, sunny conditions with the only birds of note comprising another 4 Firecrests in with several Long-tailed Tit flocks which also contained a couple of Goldcrests and 3 Chiffchaffs, several pairs of Stonechats, a Green Woodpecker, a few calling Bearded Tits, 3 Marsh Harriers including a smart adult male, 2 Great White Egrets, big flocks of Lapwing and Golden Plover across the fields and the usual ducks etc.   

Another very calm day on the 22nd but with complete cloud cover; a look at the fishing boats in the morning produced 211 Great-crested Grebes on the sea, 300+ Auks blogging around, c30 Red-throated Divers, a few Kittiwakes and a 2cy Mediterranean Gull which went east.   A drive out to Walland Marsh then produced 2 Whooper Swans off Caldicott Lane where there was also a huge flock of c400 Fieldfares and a nice group of 28 Bewick’s Swans (including two juveniles) at Midley Farm before birds at The Patch in the afternoon just included an adult Mediterranean Gull and a single Fulmar offshore.

Firecrests

Long-tailed Tits

Goldeneye

Kitts

Several Kittiwakes were also coming in to the beach at Dungeness this evening to feed on fishing discards from the thousands of fishermen that plague the coast here (!)   I filled up my memory card on them so here are the final cuts!

Probably my favourite picture of the bunch

Youngster

Adult

Caspo and Glauc

The 1st winter Caspian Gull and the juvenile Glaucous Gull both showed brilliantly well today around the Fishing Boats and Fish Shack here at Dungeness today; here's a selection of pictures.

Big brute of a Glaucous Gull

Beautiful, slim Caspian Gull - showing its distinctive build perfectly in the above picture compared with the stocky, accompanying Herring Gulls

Back detail

Very smart!

15th January

Still gorgeous, bright and sunny but with an even colder, biting northerly wind; the Fishing Boats were quiet first thing with an adult Mediterranean Gull offshore the only thing of note.   Birds around Hookers and Dengemarsh then included a Dartford Warbler which called a couple of times near the ramp, a ringtail Hen Harrier, a Kingfisher, 2 Brent Geese, a Great White Egret, another adult Mediterranean Gull, a Peregrine and a Raven on the pylons by Springfield Bridge.

                A walk round the point late afternoon in the lovely evening sun then produced the 1^st winter Caspian Gulls and Glaucous Gulls; at least 10 Kittiwakes coming in to eat fish scraps, a Danish ringed Great Black-backed Gull and a Long-tailed Duck briefly offshore.

 

Front and back Hen Harrier

Stonechat

Danish ringed Great Black-backed Gull - ringed as a chick in 2014 and has been here at Dungeness for the last two consecutive winters

 

14th January

Another bright, sunny morning with a very cold NW wind but there was little new around the Fishing Boats first thing with a few more Red-throated Divers present while the 1^st winter Caspian Gull was still loafing around.   A stomp through the Trapping Area then produced single Firecrest and Chiffchaff with 4+ Goldcrests and a couple of Long-tailed Tit parties.

                The RSPB Reserve then produced little new but improved counts of 3 Great White Egrets and 9+ Little Egrets before the day’s highlight came late on with 2 Glaucous Gulls together on the beach at the Fishing Boats – a pale juvenile and a very confiding 2^nd winter bird.

Glaucous Gull at dusk

Eye Eye

1st winter Marsh Harrier

Adult female Marsh Harrier

Big, ugly argentatus Herring Gull (the photo makes the mantle look a bit darker than it looked in the field)

Herring Gull - probably ringed somewhere in Gloucester