Midrips

 Warm, dry and sunny, NE 4 - With the ranges shut and on a falling tide (which means I don`t have to clamber over the sea defence rocks) we visited the Midrips and Wicks first thing. Waders were few with just four Ringed Plovers, three Dunlins and a Greenshank on the lagoons, along with another pair of plovers with chicks along the main path, plus a few Black-headed Gulls and a Shelduck. The weedy foreshore produced 20 each of Yellow and Pied Wagtails, Wheatear and Meadow Pipit and singles of Reed Bunting and Skylark, while a trickle of Sand Martins moved west along the beach. A check of the old sand pit that two summers ago was a wader hot-spot held a few common diving ducks and at least six Common Sandpipers around the margins. A large flock of Starlings proved to be highly entertaining from the main footpath as they foraged for blackberries, all the while being aware of a nearby Hobby. After a quick look at Scotney it was onto Kerton and Lade for the WeBS count. The quarry was of interest when up to 100 Sandwich Terns flew in off the bay to bathe and roost amongst a mixed flock of 150, mostly Black-headed, and a few Mediterranean Gulls. Two more Common Sandpipers were noted at both sites.

                                  Midrips and The Wicks

                                  Ringed Plovers - Midrips

    Black-headed and Med Gulls, Sandwich Terns - Kerton Quarry

Passage Waders

Dungeness - hot, dry and sunny, NE 3 - This past week has seen a trickle of passage waders moving through the local wetlands, comprising adult or non-breeding birds, which is about typical for this time of year. Lapwings are in the vanguard along with a handful of Dunlins, Common and Green Sandpipers on the reserve and Kerton quarry, and today a male Ruff on Burrowes from Firth. Several each of Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers were also noted at ARC, plus a Garganey and a family party of four Sandwich Terns. A few more of the latter were on Burrowes this morning amongst a flock of 30 Common Terns with 10 Swifts over the car park and all the usual wildfowl, gulls, Cormorants, egrets and gulls present around the circular trail for a guided walk. Passerines were few due to the brisk breeze but we did manage to connect with a few common warblers and a Bearded Tit from the ramp.

                                  Green Sandpiper - ARC

                                  Ruff - Burrowes

Hints of Autumn

Hot, dry and sunny, NE 5 - The heatwave continues, although with some respite as a brisk cooling wind has picked up off the North Sea. Around New Romney the harvest is in full swing with bare oil-seed rape and barley fields briefly attracting flocks of Woodpigeons, Starlings, gulls and corvids as well as a few early migrants such as Yellow Wagtail and Sand Martin. The drainage ditches are full of juvenile Reed Warblers while Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers appear to have had a good breeding season on the wooded outskirts of town. The first passage Common Sandpipers were noted at Lade and Kerton Quarry over the weekend with the latter site producing fledged young for Oystercatcher, Redshank and Little Ringed Plover. Around the margins of Lade Little Egrets totalled eight birds with Pochard and Tufted Duck into three figures on the lakes while the island at the southern end attracted passing Common Terns and Black-headed Gulls. 

I`m sure many of you, like me, have been transfixed by the incredible live streaming images from a Honey-buzzard nest site in the Ashdown Forest where the two nestlings are growing fast. The quality and camera detail is astonishing. When the male returns with food for the female to feed the wasp/bee larvae from a honey-comb to the chicks it is all action and a privilege to watch the breeding activity of such an enigmatic and fascinating raptor. Top marks to all concerned for making it happen, and if you haven`t indulged check it out at: www.ashdownforest.org/honey-buzzard-livecam/    

                                  New Cut - St Mary-in-the-Marsh

                                Common Terns - Lade 

                                  Little Egret - Lade

    Ted in summer plumage

Garganey

Warm, dry and sunny, SW 3 - There has been little change to the local birding scene since my last post with last weeks Caspian Tern being the undoubted highlight as it stayed on the reserve for a record five days. Normally a brief visitor to Dungeness this one got into a pattern of resting up on a shingle island in front of Dennis`s viewpoint and foraging over Dengemarsh and New Excavations for fish; however, there was no sign of it today. Also noted over the weekend an eclipse Garganey on ARC amongst the common wildfowl, a juvenile Cuckoo from the Return Trail and, this morning, five grounded migrant Yellow Wagtails by the Outland Trail. I also had Lesser Emperor and Norfolk Hawker dragonflies by Hanson hide. The garden moth trap continues to attract one or two goodies while large numbers of migrant butterflies (mainly Painted Ladies) have been noted around New Romney.

                                  Garganey - ARC

                                  Barred Red

                                  Lime Hawk-moth  

Caspian Tern

Burrowes - warm, dry and sunny, SW2 - When news came through this morning of an adult Caspian Tern on the bird reserve (found by Gary) I was determined not to miss it; this stunning seabird is a notoriously brief-stayer here at Dunge and over the past twenty years they`ve all (probably no more than half a dozen) eluded me. But not this one which was still sat on a shingle island out from Dennis`s hide viewpoint when I arrived, being greatly appreciated by a gathering throng of local birders and visitors alike. Unusually, for this species it stuck around and after an early afternoon flight over towards Dengemarsh it returned to Burrowes during the evening. Caspian Terns used to be much rarer in the past with an average of six per year across the UK when the colonies around the Baltic Sea were in decline. However, due to concerted conservation efforts on their breeding grounds numbers have steadily recovered resulting in an increase in sightings across the country during this decade as migrants transit our waters. So hopefully, we may be seeing a few more of these giant terns over the coming summers both here at Dungeness and elsewhere along the Channel coastline.

    Caspian Tern - Burrowes

The garden moth trap continues to attract a good range of moths, although not in the numbers of last week. However, new for the site was a tatty, immigrant Small Marbled, in complete contrast to an immaculate Orache Moth trapped recently by Chris at St Mary-in-the-Marsh.

                                    Small Marbled - New Romney

                                              Orache Moth (by Chris Philpott)

Kentish Plover

Scotney - warm, cloudy, SW3 This afternoon we had a walk outback across the farmland to check on the Tree Sparrow colony where it was good to see plenty of activity, particularly around the next boxes in the trees, but not so much on the ones on the barns. Tree Sparrows can have up to three broods, depending on food availability, and if ever a species needed maximum productivity then this is it. Difficult to say how they`ve done this summer but I reckon I saw at least 20 juvs amongst numerous adults plus loads more fledgling `chupping` along the hedgerow, so probably up to 50 birds minimum. However, the oddest sighting was a recently fledged Wheatear with an attendant adult perched on a barn; not your typical breeding habitat for this species, although they do nest nearby on the Army ranges. Whilst on the long trudge outback a Quail (recently found by Martin) burst into song twice from the depths of a bean field, opposite the longest dung heap I`ve ever seen, and where the adjacent farm track was alive with alba wagtails. Also noted the usual Corn and Reed Buntings, Linnets, Yellow Wagtails, Swallows and Skylarks plus a Marsh Harrier, two Ravens and a Spoonbill on the front lake. 

                                  Adult Tree Sparrow

                                  Juv Tree Sparrows

                                  Juv Wheatear

                                  Spoonbill - Scotney

Elsewhere since my last post visits to the reserve, Lade and Kerton quarry have yielded the expected build up of diving ducks, mostly Pochards, where there was 60 on Lade yesterday along with 172 Curlew and a Whimbrel to roost out the high tide on the Desert.

                                  Curlew - Lade

Lade Bay - 1700hrs - I`d barely got home this afternoon when news came through of a Kentish Plover found by Jacob on the beach just south of the Lade car park. I was soon on site watching this cracking wader at one of its historical haunts. Many thanks to Dave Scott for his superb image.

    Kentish Plover - Lade Bay  (by Dave Scott)

Summer Moths

Hot, dry and sunny - It has been a week since I last posted and despite being out and about on a daily basis there has been little change to the birding scene locally. Visits to the reserve have been notable for the lack of tern activity on Burrowes and Dengemarsh, although there was a small flock investigating the raft on Lade south earlier in the week. Oystercatcher, Lapwing and Redshank have all managed to fledge a few young from the main island at Kerton quarry despite the gull predation. A party of Swifts flying around the old water tower at Littlestone recently was also of note (they have bred there in the past) whilst woefully low numbers of House Martins have been heard over New Romney air space so far this summer. The Hammonds Corner Little Owl has hopefully found a mate and good numbers of Corn Buntings can be heard in the cereal fields around Lydd along with a few Yellow Wagtails.

                                      Blackneck

                                     Pine Hawk-moth

The heavy rain we had on Monday followed by warm sunshine has certainly benefitted the plant life with great swathes of Vipers Bugloss in flower across the shingle ridges and plenty of dragonflies and butterflies on the wing, particularly Painted Ladies which seem to be everywhere. Needless to say our garden moth trap has been heaving with insects this week with Small Emerald, Blackneck and Pine Hawk-moth all new for the site; last night produced 40 species of macros including 24 Elephant Hawk-moths and 18 Buff-tips, while several Hummingbird Hawk-moths have been attracted to the buddleias during the afternoon. Our garden Hedgehogs have active at dusk as have plenty of small bats flying overhead from the town park.