Foggy Days

Lade - mild, misty, n 2 - 0700hrs  - With a drop of rain just before dawn, and a rolling mist, expectation of a fall rose, but certainly at Lade there were less migrants present than yesterday. However a scattering of Wheatears, Whinchats and Stonechats kept the momentum going while the Linnet flock hit 200. Overhead a few Swallows, House Martins,Yellow Wagtails, Mipits and a Greenshank. Around the willow swamp several Chiffs, Blackcaps, Robins, two Lesser Whitethroats and three Greater peckers. Strangest sighting of all though was two Black-tailed Godwits wading precariously on a raft of thick water weed in the middle of south lake! At least 150 Curlews were roosting on the Desert.

                                Wheatear, Lade

Scotney - With the fret rolling in viewing was restricted. The Barnacle Goose flock was present on the grass along with five Curlews and a Whimbrel, but birds on the water were just spectres in the gloom.

                                Barnacle Geese, Scotney

Lydd Wood - A fair bit of activity here with a roving Great/Blue Tit flock attracting several Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps and Lesser Whitethroats, while every piece of cover seemed to hold a ticking Robin.
ARC - A stroll down to the pines was notable for more Robins, Chiffs and Lesser Whitethroats and a Great White Egret was wreathed in the mist from Screen hide.
Lade - A late afternoon wander over the pits behind south lake delivered similar fare to this morning.
A strange day of weather here on the coast with muggy conditions and the sound of the Dungeness fog-horn drifting over the shingle throughout. The rolling mist/fog/fret, call it what you will, combined to give an ethereal feel to the place, and probably ideal weather for a spot of smuggling...

                                Lade-in-the-mist, 1600hrs

                               

Migrant drop-in

Lade - 0800hrs - mild, cloudy, ne 2 - Whilst clearing the moth trap of loads of boring old yellow underwings, Flounced Rustics and Setaceous Hebrew Characters a Grey Wagtail flying around the back gardens was a portent of things to come. Cloud cover and mist just before dawn had deposited a host of common migrants on the storm beaches between Taylor Road and the caravan park, mostly chats, pipits and wagtails. I only had a couple of hours but rattled up the following: 10 Skylark, 150 Mipit, 10 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Grey Wagtail, 5 Pied Wagtail, 10 Robin, 1 Black Redstart, 2 Whinchat, 8 Stonechat, 25 Wheatear, 10 Blackbird, 1 Mistle Thrush, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 10 Chiffchaff, 4 Blackcap, 100 Linnet and 20 Reed Bunting. Over south lake 100 hirundines, plus all the usual wildfowl.
 I returned around midday and virtually all the passerines had moved on.

                                Stonechat, Lade

Greatstone Beach - 1030hrs - A quick scan from the Tavern car park in poor light revealed 7 species of shorebirds and 150 Sandwich Terns.

                                "That`s my 2nd bath this year, I`m calling the RSPCA..."

A large Arachnid

Lade - humid, misty, dry, ne 3 - A muggy start to the day that got even more sticky by late morning. With misty conditions, and Mipits settled on rooftops hereabouts, thoughts turned to a good fall of migrants, but it was nothing like a fortnight ago. However, at least 50 Mipits were grounded on the storm beaches, plus similar numbers overhead, along with 100 Linnet, 15 Yellow Wagtail and singles of Skylark and Grey Wagtail. On the dry scrub 3 Wheatear, Whinchat and Stonechat. Around the willow swamp 10 Chiffchaff and a scattering of Blackcap, Reed Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat. Also noted during the circuit, 10 Long-tailed Tit, 2 Greater pecker, Marsh Harrier, Buzzard and Kestrel, plus many more Blackbirds and Robins than of late. South lake continues to attract large numbers of common waterfowl, while several pulses of hirundines dropped in to drink.

                                South Lake, Lade

ARC - 1500hrs - An hour at Screen hide (where RSPB have done a great job cutting back the reeds) delivered Glossy Ibis, Garganey, Black-necked Grebe, 4 Ruff, 2 Blackwit and Snipe amongst the usual hundreds of dabblers, Lapwings and 4 Little Egret. Also noted Kingfisher, Marsh Harrier, Sparrowhawk, Cetti`s and Reed Warblers.
Plovers - Our old cottage is a haven for wildlife with newts in the walls, lizards under cupboards and a cricket in the bedroom, and that`s just what I`m aware of; no doubt other beasties lurk in dark, dank corners elsewhere. Anyhow, about now spiders are everywhere, but yesterday evening I went to let Barney out in the garden when I noticed a whopper on the kitchen floor, which fortunately froze enabling me to take a few pics. I put the florin beside it to get some sort of size comparison - it was enormous!
Rummaging through my spider guide I came up with a tentative id of Tegenana duellica, based on the cardiac mark on the abdomen, a species commonly found in houses in the autumn, but I`m no expert and could be way off beam, and probably are. But whatever the species it was a fabulous animal and is currently at large somewhere in the cottage... 

     Tegenana duellica,(possible) Plovers kitchen

First Redpoll

Lade - 0800hrs - misty, warm, dry, sunny, e 2 - Blood-vein and Small Dusty Wave were the best of the bunch in the garden mv last night amongst 55 macro moths. A circuit of the local patch produced the first Redpoll of the autumn overhead calling, while a steady flow of Swallows and martins hawked insects over the storm beaches. Yesterdays chats had shipped out, but Chiffchaff, Lesser throat and Blackcap were in the willow swamp, plus Great Spotted Woodpecker and a juv Marsh Harrier over the reed bed. A flock of 50 Linnets was noteworthy.
New Romney - At least 5 Common Buzzard and a Hobby drifted over the town around noon, while Chiffchaff, Lesser throat and Goldfinch also noted.

                                Blood-vein, Lade

ARC - 1400hrs - At the south end 2 each of Garganey and Blackwit amongst the Lapwing and dabblers. From Hanson 9 Ruff, 150 Golden Plover, Blackwit, 2 Black-necked Grebe, 8 Pintail, plus hundreds of common wildfowl, grebes and Lapwing. The long-staying Glossy Ibis and Red-crested Pochard were also reported.

Pale-shouldered Cloud

Lade - 0900hrs - warm, dry and sunny, ne 2 - With lighter winds and cloud cover a few more moths were in the trap this morning, but it was still poor fare with only 9 species of which Feathered Ranunculus was new for the season.

                                      Feathered Ranunculus, Lade

                                L-album Wainscot, Lade

Over the pits a few more migrants on show with singles figures of Wheatear, Whinchat and Stonechat. plus a steady flow of Swallows, Mipits and Yellow Wags overhead. Coot numbers had increased to an impressive 550 on south lake, along with 9 Wigeon. Two Greater peckers were in the willow swamp, plus 5 Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Lesser Whitethroat.
Checked the beach on an incoming tide but only a few Dunlin and Sanderling were still present.
Kerton Road Café - Trapped locally, and on show in the fridge, was the rare migrant from the south, Pale-shouldered Cloud. The first British record was from Dungeness in 1996 and there have been less than 20 since, so a pretty rare, if unimpressive beast.

                                Pale-shouldered Cloud, Dungeness

Dengemarsh Wheatears

Dengemarsh Gully - 1000hrs - warm, dry, sunny, ne 4 - Mrs PT joined us for a stroll this morning commencing at Springfield Bridge where we were treated to a flyover Bittern and Great White Egret, due to a low-flying aircraft, while the field before the gully held 2 Whimbrel and 3 Wheatear. I wasn`t expecting much in the gully and so it turned out to be with only one migrant, a Chiffchaff, plus Dunnock, Robin, Blue and Great Tits and a squealing Water Rail.  However, at the end of the gully, towards Penn Bars a fall of at least 15 Wheatear was noteworthy. A few Mipits and Yellow Wagtails went over, a steady trickle of Swallows and Sand Martins headed into the wind and that was about it.

Hard going in the wind

Dungeness - 0900hrs - warm, dry, sunny, ne 5 - Headed off down the point this morning more to give Barney his first stroll since spraining his leg than expecting to see any birds in the brisk easterly. He was full of himself after being confined to barracks all week, springing around like a puppy, what great powers of recovery dogs have. Anyhow, birds, mmm..., well there were hardly any, not on the land anyway with a circuit of the bushes and scrub from the lighthouse to the Trapping Area delivering 12 Great Tit, 2 Chiffchaff, Dunnock, Robin and Blackbird, plus 2 Sparrowhawk and a Kestrel. Can we have last weekends weather back, please?
Viz mig comprised a Grey Wagtail, several Yellow Wags and Mipits plus a couple of pulses of Swallows.
A brief scan from the seawatch hide yielded 2 Arctic Skua, 5 Common Scoter, Red-throated Diver and feeding parties of Sandwich and Common Terns in awful glaring light.
ARC - Pretty much the same as yesterday, so Glossy Ibis, Black-necked Grebe, Garganey, RCP and Ruff.