Eiders

Dungeness - cold and cloudy, E 4 - A grim morning with low cloud, bits and pieces of drizzle and a scudding wind out of the east. A seawatch from the hide around noon delivered a typical wintry scene offshore with up to 100 fishing Gannets, auks fizzing to and fro, several Red-throated Divers, 10 Common Scoters and two eastbound Eiders, always nice to see here. By the Cardinal buoy a mixed flock of gulls on the sea comprised 150 Kittiwakes and six Mediterranean Gulls. We wandered down to the Patch more out of a sense of duty than anything else, what with the outlet pipe turned off for the duration, where a few gulls and Cormorants loafed on the beach and a solitary Peregrine was tucked up out of the wind on B station.

Lade - The windswept pits were fairly desolate with just a single redhead Goldeneye on south lake amongst the usual wildfowl. Elsewhere, the Cattle Egrets remained on the Boulderwall fields, a Goosander dropped onto Burrowes and the first five Bewick`s Swans of the season roosted on ARC last night - winter`s coming...