Passage of Little Gulls

Dungeness - cloudy, cold, w 5 - With the rain relenting we arrived at the fishing boats this morning as a westward passage of Little Gulls was underway. Nearly all of the 120 logged were adults (DW)and most of them passed close to shore into a heavy sea as some unusually hefty rollers crashed onto the beach. Other seabirds were few with only a handful of Gannets, auks and Kittiwakes, plus one party of 10 Brents east, while the regular 1st winter Caspian Gull was loitering by the Fish Hut amongst the large gulls.

                                Stormy Dungeness

Dengemarsh - Wandering down from Boulderwall the flooded fields were packed out with hundreds of feral geese, Wigeon, Lapwings, Golden Plovers and Starlings. The break in the heavy rain brought forth several Marsh Harriers and a Peregrine to keep the plovers on the move. A drake Smew flew over towards gun club lagoon while up to 10 egrets fished the floods. A spell at the viewing ramp, unsurprisingly in the blustery wind, draw a blank on the Penduline Tits.

                                Great White Egret, Boulderwall

Littlestone  - This afternoon, in bright sunshine, we checked out the golf links for any owl activity, of which there was none. A few Linnets and a pair of Stonechats were the only birds of note. However, on the seaward side six species of waders on the sands included 20 Knot, 10 Grey and 5 Ringed Plovers, while 12 Little Gulls hunkered down within a Black-headed flock were probably a part of this mornings movement in the Channel.