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

White-winged Black Tern

 Warm, dry, misty, SW 3 - A muggy start to the day with mist and drizzle coming and going, but ideal weather conditions for grounded passage migrants, or so I thought... Certainly at Lade there was little evidence of a fall with not a single warbler noted apart from a couple of resident Cetti`s and up to 30 grounded Yellow Wagtails on the desert. Kerton quarry hosted the usual roosting Oystercatchers, gulls and 100 Sandwich Terns on the incoming tide while a mixed flock of 50 waders overhead comprised mostly Curlews, plus 10 Whimbrels, several Greenshanks and a calling Spotted Redshank. On Lade wetlands, at least 15 Little and two Great White Egrets were scattered around the margins with the usual post-breeding flock of diving ducks, Coots and grebes on south lake. Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Common Buzzards and Marsh Harrier were all noted across the site.

                                  Egrets, Lade

                                 Greenshanks, Burrowes

On the bird reserve a scan from Dennis`s eventually yielded the juvenile White-winged Black Tern around midday that flew in from ARC direction in company with three juv Common Terns. Over the following hour it moved up and down Burrowes as the murk lifted and the sun burnt through. Two Greenshanks paused a while, along with 100 Lapwings, a Redshank and a Black-tailed Godwit as hundreds of hirundines, mainly Sand Martins, swarmed over the lake.

Ringtail harrier

 Warm, dry and sunny, NE3 - Having been away in Dorset for the first half of the week it felt good to spend the morning with Ted on the local patch birding, not only Lade wetlands but also Kerton quarry, the adjacent desert, Mockmill sewer and the rough grassland towards the airfield. The highlight was a ringtail harrier (probably an adult female Hen) being mobbed by corvids behind the wall mirror and last seen heading towards Belgar farm where ploughing operations attracted hundreds more corvids, pigeons and gulls. It was a good morning for raptors with several Common Buzzards (including one with a rufous tail!) Marsh Harriers and Kestrels plus a Sparrowhawk. The willow scrub behind south lake was alive with warblers, mostly Willow Warblers, Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs along with good numbers of Lesser and Common Whitethroats, plus Reed and Sedge Warblers in Mockmill. The desert yielded half a dozen Wheatears, two Stonechats and a Whinchat and a pair of Ravens flew over `cronking` noisily. On the high tide the quarry roost attracted around 500 Oystercatchers, 100 large gulls and Sandwich Terns, several Curlews, Redshanks, Greenshanks and Common Sandpipers with a Whimbrel briefly on the desert. Lade south was packed out with diving ducks, Coots, Great Crested and Little Grebes, Shovelers, Teals, Gadwalls and a lone Shelduck, plus a Great White and ten Little Egrets, two more Common Sandpipers, two Green Sandpipers, my first two Kingfishers of autumn, several Yellow Wagtails over and pulses of hirundines through. North lake held 500 Black-headed and a few Mediterranean Gulls, plus the usual wildfowl, grebes and Grey Herons. On the walk back along the main track a Wheatear allowed a ridiculously close approach to about ten feet as it posed for the camera. A cracking morning`s birding.  

                                  Common Sandpiper, Lade

                                 Great White Egret, Lade                                  

    Wheatear, Lade

Elsewhere across the peninsula today plenty more common passage warblers have been noted along with a few Spotted Flycatchers, plus a White-winged Black Tern and a Spotted Redshank on Burrowes this afternoon.

Shearwaters

Mild, sunny, SW 6 - The strong winds sweeping in from the Atlantic delivered a rash of shearwaters yesterday off Dungeness, many of which were distant and unspecified (see DBO website for details). This morning the light was awful and the two birds I saw were way off shore but probably Balearics. Crossing the causeway road a Black Tern was on the ARC with ten or more Common Terns, while at least five Cattle Egrets were in the Boulderwall fields with two Great Whites on Burrowes, plus hundreds of Sand Martins over the lake.

                                 Oystercatcher roost, Kerton Road quarry

                                  Great White Egret, Burrowes

                                 Starling, Dungeness

Elsewhere this week Lade has produced several Common Sandpipers around the margins of south lake and 210 Pochards were counted on Wednesday. The beach opposite the tavern attracted 20 Yellow Wagtails, while hundreds of Mediterranean, Common and Black-headed Gulls continue to drop in on the bay on a falling tide but only a few Sandwich Terns. A count of 1,100 Oystercatchers was made at Kerton Road quarry on the high tide and a large raft of Common Scoters is still present offshore in the bay. A couple of visits to Scotney sand pit produced a host of passage waders with the Pectoral Sandpiper still present until at least Wednesday along with several Little Stints and a Curlew Sandpiper.

                                 Ted, Dungeness