WYKE BIRDING: 12th and 13th January

Wednesday, 13 January 2016

12th and 13th January

12th January
Arrived down at Dungeness at lunchtime from where I spent the afternoon around the RSPB Reserve; birds seen in the cold, windy conditions included a Great White Egret, a Slavonian Grebe on Hookers and a redhead Smew on Burrowes with good numbers of Pintail, Teal, Shoveler and Wigeon while there were Marsh Harriers and a single Buzzard cruising about and calling and singing Cetti’s Warblers and Water Rails.

13th January

A gorgeous, sunny morning with a light but cold wind produced big numbers of birds foraging off the Fishing Boats including 350+ Great-crested Grebes, 60+ Guillemots (and a couple of Razorbills) and hundreds of Cormorants along with a single 2^nd winter Mediterranean Gull, a 1^st winter Shag (scarce down here!), a Red-throated Diver and a couple of Gannets and Kittiwakes. I moved across to The Patch when the sun came up and blinded me where there were at least 2 adult Little Gulls and 4 Mediterranean Gulls in amongst the thousands of other Gulls feeding around the ‘boil’ at low tide.

The Obs recording area was then pretty quiet with 2 Black Redstarts at the Power Station entrance (including a cracking adult male) along with a pair of Stonechats the highlights while the Trapping Area was very quiet with a couple of Long-tailed Tit flocks and a Green Woodpecker the only things seen (no crests or Chiffchaffs seen or heard). The long staying and pretty dependable 1^st winter Caspian Gull was then showing very well along the road as I was driving out at lunchtime.

Spent another few hours on the RSPB Reserve in the afternoon but not much new was seen with a Great White Egret, the Slavonian Grebe and a pair of Smew still present but I did catch up with the roosting Long-eared Owl at the pond-dipping platform by the centre. Scotney at dusk was then quiet with a Black-necked Grebe on the far side the only thing of note.