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. 

Red-crested Pochard

Lade and Kerton Quarry - cloudy, humid, light airs - Spent the morning on the local patch surveying the breeding birds in misty, murky conditions where fledglings were everywhere. Around the willow swamp seven species of warblers were present, while on the water Dabchicks appear to have had a good breeding season judging from the number of juveniles seen, but no sign of any Great Crested juvs as yet. Mallard, Coot, Gadwall and Mute Swan were all confirmed breeding. The mid-summer build-up of Pochards is already underway with at least 120 on north lake plus a drake Red-crested Pochard in eclipse plumage (thanks to Dave Scott for sending through his pic below), presumably the same individual that was on ARC earlier in the week. At Kerton Quarry, Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Little Ringed Plover, Egyptian, Greylag and Canada Geese were all confirmed breeding.  It was a busy night in the garden moth trap with 30 species of macros logged, including Small Emerald new for the site and a host of hawk-moths.

                                  Eyed Hawkmoth

                                  Grey Heron - Lade

                                     

                                          Red-crested Pochard - Lade north

                                      

                                  Red-crested Pochard (by Dave Scott)

Great Crested Grebes

Dungeness - warm, cloudy W4 -  Before my monthly guided walk for RSPB I checked out ARC for yesterday`s Squacco Heron of which there was no sign here or elsewhere across the reserve; although it could still be lurking somewhere on the wetlands... However, eight guests enjoyed plenty of birds and other wildlife around the circular trail with the highlights being a protracted flight view of a Bittern flying from the ramp over towards Xmas Dell and a Hobby hawking aerial insects. We also had good views of two juv Reed Warblers, a Great White Egret, several Marsh Harriers, 50 Common Terns on an island out from Dennis`s hide and all the usual wildfowl, warblers and gulls, plus two Brown Hares bounding over the shingle, always a bonus. On a sadder note it appears that the Common Terns have abandoned the Dengemarsh rafts, while a pair of close Great Crested Grebes undertaking their nuptials was fascinating to observe.

    Great Crested Grebes - Dengeemarsh