Fulmar

Dungeness - 0900hrs - cold, cloudy, ne 3 - Remaining nippy with occasional sleet showers, although the wind had backed off a touch. Hundreds of auks and Cormorants coming and going around the point along with reduced numbers of divers, grebes, kitts and Gannets. A shoal of sprats just offshore attracted the attention of 50 Cormorants who were repeatedly harried by gulls looking for a free meal, including the Glaucous Gull that sat atop the tractor scanning the flock. Bird of the morning though went to my first Fulmar of the year.

                                          3rd winter Glaucous Gull, Fishing Boats

                                          Snow Buntings, Varne, Littlestone

ARC/New Diggings - With the Ruddy assassins on site the ducks were understandably nervous. However, a flock of 200 diving ducks included 8 `redhead` Smew on New Diggings. On ARC hundreds more diving ducks, plus 8 Goldeneyes and 2 Shelducks. Also noted 2 Marsh Harriers and a Little Egret.
Littlestone - 1330hrs - A quick pit stop for the Snow Bunting resulted in good views in the car park, but proved difficult to digi-scope due to the stiff wind. One bird kept cocking its tail, a habit I`ve not seen before in this species.
Lade - All the usual wildfowl on south pit, plus 3 Goldeneye and a Shelduck. On the walk back we flushed a couple of Song Thrushes off the storm beaches.