Pastures new

Dungeness - 0900hrs - mild, cloudy, ne 3 - Thought I`d try a seawatch from the boats this morning, what with a change in the wind direction; although its always a bad sign when PB and TG are driving off the estate, even if they did see Velvet Scoter and Sooty Shearwater in the first hour! Anyhow, my hour was nowhere near as exciting, although there were plenty of seabirds moving around the point: Gannet, Red-throated Diver, auks and Kittiwake mostly.

                                Kittiwake, Dungeness

Capel-le-Ferne - Had to go to the cash-n-carry in Folkestone today so spent the afternoon checking out the cliff-top walk from the Warren to Capel-le-Ferne for a future article, in what was very pleasant winter weather. Now, this is the kind of birding walk that Barney loves snuffling about in the scrub and even meeting a lady Border Terrier along the way. However, bird wise it was pretty quiet, as expected at this time of year, but the views were terrific, and I`ll bet viz migging is good in October. All we could muster up this afternoon was Peregrine, Raven, a few Redwings and a flock of Long-tailed Tits, plus at least 20 Med Gulls at Copt Point.

                                Capel-le-Ferne

NB: Meanwhile back at Dunge there was no further sign of the 1st winter Glaucous Gull today, although 3 Smew were on Burrowes (MH).