Saturday - mild, cloudy, S2 - Now there`s a header I never thought I`d put up on the blog! Nursing a heavy cold and feeling sorry for myself I committed to doing very little today apart from watching the lunchtime kick-off concerning a struggling QPR on the telly away to Watford. Engrossed in the match I didn`t bother to check my phone until full time (a decent, goalless draw and a valuable point for the R`s) but when I did the local grapevine told of a Humpback Whale - off the fishing boats at Dungeness! It took me a few seconds to compute the enormity of this information and after checking whether or not it was still present with DW (which it was) 15 minutes later I was on site and watching this incredible leviathan from the boats, and a short time later (and much closer) in front of the sea-watch hide. Moving swiftly underwater it blew spray into the air before breaking surface to show a small, rear back fin on an enormous body and occasionally revealing a grooved throat as it swam westwards, before turning back towards Dungeness. I`m not much of a twitcher these days, and I think the last time I reacted with such alacrity was in 2015 after receiving a garbled phone message from MC concerning a famous American flycatcher on the beach! I`ve been fortunate enough in the past to have seen Humpbacks in the north Atlantic and Southern Ocean, but never thought I would see one on my doorstep, a sight I shall not forget. Unfortunately, I didn`t manage any photographs with my bridge camera, but MC did, so checkout the ploddingbirder blog.
Sunday - mild, overcast, drizzle, SW4 - Had another go at scrutinising the gulls along the beach at Dungeness this morning just in case last week`s Glaucous Gull had lingered, but the best I could do was a smart 1st winter Caspian Gull amongst the high tide roost. A brief sea-watch from the boats produced a steady procession of Gannets, Kittiwakes and auks into the brisk westerly, plus an incoming Woodcock that flew rapidly inland. A cursory circuit of the moat in heavy drizzle drew a blank for the Hume`s Warbler heard earlier in the Obs garden.
Dungeness lifeboat
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