Dungeness - overcast, mild, E2 - Its the right time of year, the overnight weather was perfect (low cloud and drizzle with an easterly airflow), so surely there would be loads of grounded migrants around the peninsula this morning... Half a century ago there probably would`ve been, but not today with only a trickle of overhead Skylarks, Meadow Pipits, Goldfinches and Chaffinches, plus a Reed Bunting and a Swallow in three hours, and hardly anything on the deck; even the Chiffchaffs and Robins seemed to have dropped off in numbers. On the quality side a Ring Ouzel showed briefly by the quarry hillocks, several small flocks of Redwings swirled around over the trapping area, a Firecrest showed by Long Pits (with two more caught at the Obs while we were there) and Ted flushed two Snipes in the desert and a Woodcock by the wigwams. Also noted across the point several Kestrels and Stonechats, a Sparrowhawk and two Ravens. The seawatchers reported good numbers of wildfowl on the move earlier, particularly Brents with over 3,000 logged, but by the time we worked our way around to the sea at midday it was largely over. However, half an hour from the boardwalk did produce plenty of Gannets, gulls, Sandwich Terns and two Arctic Skuas feeding offshore, plus three small parties of Brent Geese down-Channel as the sun broke through.
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