Dungeness - cold, dry and sunny, NW 3 - A superb bright spring morning with a frost first thing and a keen wind out of the north, and about time I found my first Wheatear, seeing as they`ve been reported for a week or more now. However, it didn`t take long; a smart male on the Desert was followed by at least nine more, all females, and another male by the railway cafe, so 11 in total. Martin had 10 in the gully while James had up to 15 locally, so something of a `fall` this morning across the peninsula. With over 60 years of birding under my belt I still get a thrill seeing my first `white-arse` of the season; in-fact I can still recall my first one ever (seen through my beloved Charles-Frank 10x50 bins!) on Chilterns farmland at the back of Maple Cross in the 1960`s.
A Fieldfare was seen along the way, plus two Common and a Jack Snipe near the wigwams. Also noted across the Estate, several Chiffchaffs in song in the Trapping Area and Long Pits, 12 Skylarks, two Meadow Pipits, a Kestrel, a Sparrowhawk and two Greenfinches. Moving onto Kerton Quarry where there was plenty of activity on the islands from Oystercatchers, Lapwings and Redshanks, a pair of Shelducks, a pair of Egyptian Geese (still with six goslings), six Teals, 12 Gadwalls, 20 Tufted Ducks and a lone Dunlin. An adult male Marsh Harrier came in low off the bay (causing all the HGs to go berserk) before sensibly heading across the Desert towards ARC. There was no change on the Boulderwall wetlands apart from c200 Black-headed Gulls and at least one Med Gull on the far island, plus two Cattle Egrets in a sheep fold from the access road. A Hooded Crow made a brief appearance for ROR and his group this morning on the shingle ridges between Dennis`s and New Diggings, while several Sand Martins, Swallows, a Crane and a Willow Warbler were reported elsewhere across the NNR today.
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