Dungeness - cold, dry and sunny, nw 3 - This past week has not been conducive to birding due to the strong winds and bands of rain and hail sweeping across the flatlands. However, today was different with bright sunshine and lighter winds making time spent in the field far more productive. I had to drop the car off at the garage in Lydd (again!) this morning, so set off on a long roundabout walk across Dengemarsh around the bird reserve and back across Romney Salts to New Romney. It took me just over four hours and a tally up revealed a total of 63 species of birds noted. The arable fields across Dengemarsh delivered several singing Skylarks over stubble fields and Reed Buntings in the reed-fringed ditches; a mixed flock of feral geese by Manor Farm harboured a single laggard White-front within their ranks. Three pairs of Bearded Tits showed briefly in the reedbeds at the back of Hookers, while the fields across from the hide had over 100 Wigeons and lesser numbers of Teal, Lapwings and Shelducks around the margins. The hayfields looked superb for wetland birds but only attracted a handful each of Teal and Curlew, plus a Little Egret and a Raven and Sparrowhawk over. Thousands of gulls were on the lakes at Dengemarsh and Burrowes; a minimum estimate came out at: 3,000 Black-headed, 500 Common, 500 Herring and 100 black-backs.
Across the Salts more Skylarks were in song, plus a flock of 20 Corn Buntings,10 Yellowhammers, five Tree Sparrows, 10 Snipes, two Buzzards and a Kestrel. There was little of note around the dung heap apart from Magpies and Pied Wagtails. Interestingly, I didn`t encounter a single Marsh Harrier or Great White Egret along the way. Brown Hares were also absent, but unsurprisingly so; a decade ago this route would`ve delivered multiple Hare sightings, probably with small gatherings `boxing` on the Boulderwall fields. Sadly, the Brown Hare is now a scarcity across the Marsh, as a result of a combination of illegal coursing, legalised shooting, high levels of leveret predation by Foxes and intensive farming.
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