Dungeness RSPB - mild, overcast, drizzle, S 2 - I decided on a change of scene for my daily walkabout taking in the circular walk on the reserve this afternoon. The car park was empty so I had the place to myself, although there was precious little of any variety to see apart from 500 Cormorants, 200 Teal, 100 Pochard and five Goldeneyes on Burrowes, plus a couple of Marsh Harriers and Great White Egrets on Dengemarsh. The winter rains have left only a couple of islands above the water line on Burrowes, and while the hayfields were flooded they were bereft of birds apart from a few Greylags and Common Gulls; also noted around the circular route: Kestrel, Cetti`s Warbler, Chiffchaff and a Stonechat.
However, the wet fields at Boulderwall were far more productive with hundreds of Wigeon, Lapwing, Starlings, and Greylags, 15 Shelducks, five Curlews, Buzzard, Marsh Harrier and a flight view of the wintering Glossy Ibis. Whilst scanning from the gateway the S&R helicopter flushed the goose flock off the fields along the Lydd road providing a fine spectacle as a couple of hundred Russian White-fronts flew overhead `yapping` loudly. Some landed briefly in the field by Cook`s pool amongst Greylags, while others returned back over the road; the White-fronts being far more nervous and less likely to settle and roost than their feral cousins.
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