Brent Geese

Dungeness - mild, sunny, se 3 - With a dry, onshore wind I opted for a run down to the point this morning to see if anything was happening on the water. The seawatchers in the hide confirmed that a movement of Brent Geese was underway and whilst at the Patch for an hour at least 200 came up-Channel in several straggling groups providing, as always, a fine spectacle. Also on the move between the bays a few Red-throated Divers, auks, Kittiwakes, Fulmars and Gannets.
  There was a decent melee of mostly large gulls over the boil and a lone Great Skua sitting on the sea which eventually drifted east. At least one juvenile Yellow-legged Gull was over the boil and a 3rd winter Caspian Gull on the beach where also two Mediterranean Gulls.

                                Great Skua at the Patch

                                Brent Geese on the move

  We flogged around the local patch in warm sunshine where a couple of bees were on the wing by the ponds, but there was no change to the regular wildfowl on the lakes. At Scotney the two Long-tailed Ducks and a Slavonian Grebe were still present (DS).