American Golden Plover

Warm, dry and sunny, light airs - Another stunning day guiding for Mark from Lexington with plenty of good birds in sparkling autumn weather conditions. We kicked off at the point where Chiffchaffs were all over the place along with a few Blackcaps, Lesser Whitethroats and a Willow Warbler in the lighthouse garden. Other passerines included several Stonechats, two Black Redstarts, 20 Meadow Pipits, a Whinchat, a Reed Warbler (in the hand) plus five Skylarks and ten Tree Sparrows on the beach opposite Jarman`s. Pulses of hirundines moved through while Kestrels were still much in evidence and a male Peregrine was sat on its favoured perch atop a pylon. A cursory look across a flat-calm sea from the hide produced plenty of Gannets fishing offshore, passing Sandwich Terns, three Brent Geese, a Common Scoters and four Arctic Skuas. Moving onto Lade where we failed to locate the Black-necked Grebe that had been reported on north lake earlier. Next stop was the southern end of ARC for brief views of a juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper (later seen from Hanson hide) along with a Ruff and a Redshank. News came through of an American Golden Plover located amongst the Lapwings and Golden Plovers on Burrowes and we were soon on site enjoying superb views of a moulting adult bird, the first I`ve seen in this plumage. We finished off the day from Hanson hide and Lade Bay where Bar-tailed Godwit, Shelduck and Oystercatcher were added to our two day bird list totalling 95 species including some cracking rarities: White-winged Black Tern, Red-necked Phalarope, American Golden Plover and Pectoral Sandpiper. Thanks for the company Mark, and hope to see you again next year.

    Reed Warbler, DBO

    Whinchat, Desert

     American Golden Plover, Burrowes

 

    Great Crested Grebe, ARC - down the hatch! 

    Pectoral Sandpiper, ARC

Red-necked Phalarope - again!

Cool, sunny, NW3 - Superb weather for showing Mark from the USA around the peninsula in sparkling light amid the bright sunshine and with the wind easing off through the day. Burrowes lake delivered the juvenile White-winged Black Tern (now been present for a fortnight) along with seven Black Terns, three Avocets, two Common Sandpipers and at least 12 Wigeons amongst the common wildfowl. The circular route was short on passerines due to the brisk wind with only a handful of Yellow Wagtails, Chiffchaffs, Lesser Whitethroats and Cetti`s Warblers of note. All three species of egrets were present, plus a Common Snipe over the hayfields, several Marsh Harriers, Common Buzzards, a Peregrine and a Sparrowhawk, while Kestrels were everywhere; we must`ve seen around 50 throughout the day. We then moved onto the Scotney sand pit where, incredibly, we found another juvenile Red-necked Phalarope to compliment the Lade bird a week ago; although this time the light was much better for viewing and we spent a couple of hours watching it feeding on a pool below. Other waders present included Wood, Green and Common Sandpipers, five Common Snipes, three Avocets, a Ringed Plover, Black-tailed Godwit and a Dunlin; what a fantastic site this has been for waders all summer with over 30 species recorded. We finished the day at the Scotney bend with 75 Curlews on the sward and a Ruff on the island amongst a host of Lapwings and feral geese.

    Black and White-winged Black Terns, Burrowes

    Juvenile Red-necked Phalarope, Scotney

    Red-necked Phalarope and Wood Sandpiper, Scotney

     Scotney sand pit

Honey Buzzard

Lade - cool, sunny, NW3 - With a nor-wester, blues skies and fluffy white clouds it was perfect weather conditions for a decent raptor, and late morning one duly appeared when a Honey Buzzard passed over the peninsula, soaring high into the cloud base over the Desert along with several Common Buzzards, Kestrels and a Sparrowhawk. All the usual waterfowl were noted around the wetlands including two Great White Egrets and a Black-necked Grebe on north lake, plus hundreds of Sand Martins pulsing south. The ponds yielded a smart Spotted Flycatcher, several Chiffchaffs and a Green Woodpecker, plus 20 grounded Yellow Wagtails on the shingle.

                                              Spotted Flycatcher, Lade ponds

Pectoral Sandpiper

Cool, dry and sunny, NW 3 - A change in the weather and much cooler than of late caused by an airflow streaming down off the Arctic. However, the sparkling light was perfect for photography from Hanson hide late morning where a juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper was on show along with a Ringed Plover, a Common Sandpiper, 10 Cattle Egrets, a Great White Egret, five Garganeys and a Glossy Ibis. The White-winged Tern remained on Burrowes (but still managed to eluded my camera!) along with nine Black Terns and hundreds of Sand Martins and Lapwings. There has been a noticeable increase in Sparrowhawk and Kestrel sightings these past few days as migrants move through the peninsula; yesterday, I counted 13 of the latter species across the Desert between Lade, Kerton Road and the water tower.

    Juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper, ARC

    Ringed Plover and Pectoral Sandpiper, ARC

    Pectoral Sandpiper, Ringed Plover and Shoveler, ARC

    Cattle Egrets, ARC

    Juvenile Cattle Egret, ARC

    Glossy Ibis, ARC

    Juvenile Black Tern, Burrowes

Shovelers

Lade - showery, mild, S4 - With thunder, lightening and heavy overnight rain a fresh breeze picking up from the south through the morning continued to dump more showers on already saturated ground; infact the small, shingle island that held the phalarope on Friday was now almost submerged with the rising water table. However, it was another productive session with a large count of around 1,400 waterfowl comprising a record number of 540 Shovelers, all on south lake; other notable numbers were 210 Pochards, 52 Great Crested and 38 Little Grebes, while the Black-necked Grebe remained on north lake. A Common Tern, a Common Sandpiper, 18 Little and two Great White egrets were also present around the wetlands. A mobile passerine flock along the causeway included plenty of Long-tailed Tits, Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs and Lesser Whitethroats. As the wind was from a favourable direction I opted for an hour at the fishing boats around midday which duly delivered the expected Gannets and Sandwich Terns, a Common Scoter and an Arctic Skua until the rain closed in.

                                  Great White Egret, south lake

                                  Little Egrets, willow swamp

                                 Common Frog, New Romney

A couple of garden firsts were recorded this weekend when a Spotted Flycatcher appeared briefly first thing and a Common Frog that somehow got trapped in a bucket of water, but was none the worse for its temporary incarceration once I released it onto the lawn as it hopped off into the undergrowth.

    Ted, Hope Lane

Red-necked Phalarope

Lade - overcast, mild, W2 - For the second day running the weather continued to be humid and stormy with thunder (which sent Ted into meltdown) lightening and, at times, heavy rain; certainly in NR yesterday it was torrential around midday. Great conditions then for grounded migrants and during the course of the morning we rattled up a fair old list across Kerton quarry and Lade wetlands. Hundreds of Sand Martins swarmed over all the waters, along with a few House Martins and Swallows, picking off emerging insects amongst two juvenile Black Terns, plus several Common and Sandwich Terns coming and going with fish. At least 500 Pochards and Tufted Ducks, 200 Coots, 30 Great Crested and 20 Little Grebes were counted on south lake as well as two large flocks of Shovelers totalling around 100 birds that flew in from the bay. More wildfowl were present on Kerton quarry, plus a Whimbrel and a Greenshank, and north lake where a Black-necked Grebe was reported at the school end this afternoon. The ponds yielded a few tits, Chaffinches, Blackcaps, Common Whitethroats, Willow, Reed and Cetti`s Warblers and a Great Spotted Woodpecker all scattered by a Sparrowhawk. 

                                 Black Tern, Lade

    Red-necked Phalarope, Lade south

On the walk back along the main track I noticed a few gulls, Cormorants and ducks on the shingle island at the south end of Lade, plus a tiny wader that had just landed. It was obviously a phalarope, but as I didn`t have my scope it was down to pics enlarged on the camera back to confirm its identity as a Red-necked Phalarope in 1st winter plumage (my first for the site): note the needle thin bill, white stripes on a greyish back and downward infliction on rear face mask. Over the course of the next hour it became more active and eventually did its trade mark swimming on water. As the local birders arrived to see the phalarope a juvenile Cuckoo broke cover rounding off a very satisfactory mornings birding on the local patch. Feeling that my luck was in we then headed down to Dungeness, in the rain, for brief views of a Wryneck in gorse scrub at the southern end of the Trapping Area, plus a Spotted Flycatcher, several Common Whitethroats and Willow Warblers, two Whinchats and a Wheatear. 

Osprey

Warm, dry and cloudy NE2- Another humid day with a light breeze and storm clouds gathering. Our Ted walks around town last night and early this morning delivered 55 House Martins and 125 Swallows respectively, while the passage continued today with thousands of hirundines streaming across the Dungeness peninsula. A mid-morning check of Burrowes revealed the juvenile White-winged Black Tern present for its sixth day, plus 10 Common Terns, 12 Golden Plovers, 10 Redshanks, five Common Sandpipers, c200 Lapwings and 220 Oystercatchers. Whilst scanning from Firth lookout I had distant views of an Osprey high over Dungeness, presumably the same as seen from DBO, although I failed to locate a reported flock of 20 White Storks. It was much quieter from Hanson hide with only a Glossy Ibis and three Cattle Egrets of note. At Kerton quarry 500 Oystercatchers were roosting out the high tide, plus two Bar-tailed Godwits and two Whimbrels over.

                                 Juvenile White-winged Black Tern

                                 Juvenile Common Tern

                                 Cattle Egret, ARC

                                  Meadow Pipit, Kerton quarry

            

The garden moth trap has been busy this past week with a Yellow-barred Brindle new for the site this morning.     

                                  Canary-shouldered Thorn

                                  Oak Hook-tip

                                 Delicate

                                 Yellow-barred Brindle

                                  Burnished Brass

Hobbies

Warm, dry and sunny, SW3 - I had to drop the car off at the garage in Lydd this morning for its annual check-up so decided to take Ted along and walk back to New Romney across the Salts. The market garden fields around Belgar Farm, beside the Dengemarsh Sewer, appeared to be suitable for small farmland birds but apart from a few Linnets and Goldfinches feeding on weed-seeds and a hovering Kestrel along the sewer margin all was quiet. However, one recently harrowed field attracted 20 Stock Doves, 100 corvids and 200 gulls, mostly Common and Herring Gulls, a dung heap lured a few Pied Wagtails and a couple of transient Yellow Wagtails, while a Kingfisher was a surprise on a pond near the golf course. I then spent a good hour or more observing the aerial antics of three Hobbies (an adult and two juvs) from a nest site in a farmland copse, snatching dragonflies (presumably Migrant Hawkers) in the lee of the trees. After a while the adult was easy to discern from the juvs, being far more athletic as it picked off flying insects with great aplomb on every lunge, while the fledglings, obviously still learning their craft, feinted aimlessly several times before hitting a target. Just as I was leaving the adult upped the tempo and arrowed out across a stubble field snatching an unwary Swallow in mid-air and returning to the tree cover leaving the juveniles in its wake. The Hobby is one of those birds that is always a joy to watch, no matter how long you`ve been birding - and when I started out in the 60`s they were a rarity, mostly confined to the heathlands of southern England. As I trudged home I pondered on the hazards that may lay ahead for this trio of falcons en-route to their winter quarters in central and southern Africa, and the likelihood of any of them returning next year to nest on the Romney Salts.

                                  Juvenile Hobby