Dungeness - mild, cloudy, sw 3 - Visited the Patch this morning where we were joined by PB. A couple of thousand Black-headed Gulls were the most numerous of the tribe with lesser numbers of all the other common species, plus three Kittiwakes. Offshore the usual fishing divers, auks and Gannets and a flock of 50 Brents headed east.
We then spent the rest of the morning checking the gulls coming off the beach as high tide approached, including some 300 Great Black-backed Gulls roosting on the Desert, but failed to find any white-winged gulls or much else of note..
The Cattle Egrets remained faithful to their usual field in Lydd (PB).
Wednesday, 7 January 2015
Tuesday, 6 January 2015
Purple Sandpipers
Hythe - cold, grey, sw 3 - Had to go to Folkestone today for a B&B Association meeting so didn`t get much time in the field. However, on the way home a quick stop at the sea defence blocks on the beach by Stade Street yielded three Purple Sandpipers and eight Turnstones.
Purple Sandpiper, Hythe
Monday, 5 January 2015
Pomarine and Great Skuas
Dungeness - 0915-10130hrs - cold, dank, sw 2 - We joined MH and PB at the boats for a lively high tide seawatch during which time we discussed the weekends football (less said the better if you follow QPR), politics, fish stocks and the forthcoming shingle movement (starts next Monday). Hundreds of Cormorants were moving between the bays along with good numbers of Red-throated Divers, Great Crested Grebes and auks (mostly Guillemots, but also one or two Razorbills) on the sea, plus a steady flow of Gannets and Kittiwakes, some of which passed close to shore. Several small groups of Brents headed east (leaving already?) and four Mergansers went down-Channel. However, most surprising was a brace of skuas, with a cracking close Bonxie and a more distant Pomarine Skua.
The day then went rapidly downhill as I arrived home when Mrs PT announced that we needed to visit Chavford for essentials that we couldn't order online. She`d caught me with my guard down, but I quickly rallied.
"What about my bad back, it just won`t take the 40 mile round trip", I pleaded.
"Doesn't play up when you`re out birding and looking for that little bastard", she retorted.
"Actually, its a Little Bustard", I smugly replied, "and anyhow what about Barney, he was limping when we were out this morning and needs looking after".
And so the excuses and counter excuses continued like a game of ping pong until I crumbled and sulkily agreed to go. The only bonus was a Grey Wagtail along the Stour and a Great White Egret on the canal at Hamstreet on the way home. Happy days...
The day then went rapidly downhill as I arrived home when Mrs PT announced that we needed to visit Chavford for essentials that we couldn't order online. She`d caught me with my guard down, but I quickly rallied.
"What about my bad back, it just won`t take the 40 mile round trip", I pleaded.
"Doesn't play up when you`re out birding and looking for that little bastard", she retorted.
"Actually, its a Little Bustard", I smugly replied, "and anyhow what about Barney, he was limping when we were out this morning and needs looking after".
And so the excuses and counter excuses continued like a game of ping pong until I crumbled and sulkily agreed to go. The only bonus was a Grey Wagtail along the Stour and a Great White Egret on the canal at Hamstreet on the way home. Happy days...
Sunday, 4 January 2015
Waders in the mist
Lade - cold, grey, misty, n 1 - It was a dank old morning with low cloud and mist throughout and the dull drone of the Dungeness foghorn drifting down the coast. I`d been up since 5am doing a bit of writing and thinking, as you do, and wandered out in to the garden now and again for a listen and a stretch to ease the lower back pain. Apart from the intermittent foghorn there was silence, no winter thrushes, waders or gulls calling, no traffic noise, just silence, it was wonderful being shrouded by a cloak of swirling mist, peace and quiet, all was right with the world, until about 7am when it began to wake up. Anyhow I slavishly cracked on at the keyboard, drinking tea with Barney flopped across my feet, until Mrs PT joined us around 9am. Outside the fog thickened and the prospect of second breakfast seemed far more enticing than a slog across the shingle, or searching desperately for an already `tweeted` 1st winter Caspian Gull in the roost at Dunge (well, let`s face it...).
As 10am approached Barney looked up hopeful for a walk, but as soon as he heard the jaunty tune of Barwick Green on the radio he slumped back into bed knowing that nothing shifts his master when the omnibus edition of The Archers is playing; well, nothing that is except maybe a Little Bustard, but certainly not a Caspian Gull... Anyhow, having missed Fridays episode I had to listen to the full hour and a quarter (how sad is that...), so we didn't hit the shingle until nearly noon, by which time the fog had cleared a little.
Sanderlings and Oystercatchers, Lade bay
Eventually we togged up and Mrs PT joined us for a circuit of the local patch where there was no change on the lakes with the Red-crested Pochard still present, plus Chiffchaff and Long-tailed Tits in the buddleia bushes. Walking back along the foreshore the tide was on the turn and waders were returning to feed, so we spent a pleasant hour watching Sanderlings scurrying close by and Turnstones picking over detritus higher up the beach. As the sea retreated the `big boys` put on an evocative show, emerging from the mist, a clamouring and a curlewing.
"A walk, at long last"
After a late lunch we returned to the foreshore, but a sea fret soon rolled in covering us in moisture and dramatically reducing visibility, so we headed home and fired up the wood-burning stove. I always find a winter fog, with its stillness and murk, gives the landscape hereabouts a weirdly ethereal feel; but somehow comforting, like being wrapped up in blanket, baffled from sight and sound, safe and unseen and perfect for smuggling.
As 10am approached Barney looked up hopeful for a walk, but as soon as he heard the jaunty tune of Barwick Green on the radio he slumped back into bed knowing that nothing shifts his master when the omnibus edition of The Archers is playing; well, nothing that is except maybe a Little Bustard, but certainly not a Caspian Gull... Anyhow, having missed Fridays episode I had to listen to the full hour and a quarter (how sad is that...), so we didn't hit the shingle until nearly noon, by which time the fog had cleared a little.
Eventually we togged up and Mrs PT joined us for a circuit of the local patch where there was no change on the lakes with the Red-crested Pochard still present, plus Chiffchaff and Long-tailed Tits in the buddleia bushes. Walking back along the foreshore the tide was on the turn and waders were returning to feed, so we spent a pleasant hour watching Sanderlings scurrying close by and Turnstones picking over detritus higher up the beach. As the sea retreated the `big boys` put on an evocative show, emerging from the mist, a clamouring and a curlewing.
After a late lunch we returned to the foreshore, but a sea fret soon rolled in covering us in moisture and dramatically reducing visibility, so we headed home and fired up the wood-burning stove. I always find a winter fog, with its stillness and murk, gives the landscape hereabouts a weirdly ethereal feel; but somehow comforting, like being wrapped up in blanket, baffled from sight and sound, safe and unseen and perfect for smuggling.
Saturday, 3 January 2015
Return to Mordor
Lade - Mild, low cloud, rain - A grim day of rain, heavy rain, more rain, drizzle. mizzle and any other adjective to describe the wet stuff, but it was mild... The only bright note on the local patch was a stunning Firecrest in the willow swamp.
Hamstreet - On the way back from Ashford we noted a Great White Egret on the canal by the garden centre, a common enough bird on the Dungeness RSPB reserve, but still rare elsewhere. The back road across the Marsh via Ivychurch yielded good numbers of Fieldfares and a Buzzard.
Also today a Glaucous Gull was reported on the beach at Dungeness (DBO) and Smew numbers moved into double figures on the bird reserve.
Hamstreet - On the way back from Ashford we noted a Great White Egret on the canal by the garden centre, a common enough bird on the Dungeness RSPB reserve, but still rare elsewhere. The back road across the Marsh via Ivychurch yielded good numbers of Fieldfares and a Buzzard.
Also today a Glaucous Gull was reported on the beach at Dungeness (DBO) and Smew numbers moved into double figures on the bird reserve.
Friday, 2 January 2015
Dungeness in the sun
Lade - 1000hrs - warm, dry and sunny w 2 - With the overnight wind dropping away and the clouds clearing it turned into a stunning winters day with warm sunshine enticing a number of flying insects out, including a Peacock butterfly in the garden. Over the pits the female Red-crested Pochard was amongst the throng on south lake and a couple of Marsh Harriers drifted over the back.
Dungeness - We had a family wander round the point in shirt sleeve weather. On the beach the anglers were landing plenty of whiting, dabs and a few codling, while offshore a trickle of Kitts, divers, auks and Gannets were present. On the land a Black Redstart by Westbeach was the highlight, plus two Stonechats by the Britannia and a Raven `cronked` along the beach.
Dungeness in the sunshine
Lade - Walked the foreshore searching for a reported dead, "big seabird" that turned out to be a Cormorant. All the usual waders were on the sands.
Dungeness - We had a family wander round the point in shirt sleeve weather. On the beach the anglers were landing plenty of whiting, dabs and a few codling, while offshore a trickle of Kitts, divers, auks and Gannets were present. On the land a Black Redstart by Westbeach was the highlight, plus two Stonechats by the Britannia and a Raven `cronked` along the beach.
Lade - Walked the foreshore searching for a reported dead, "big seabird" that turned out to be a Cormorant. All the usual waders were on the sands.
Thursday, 1 January 2015
Tawny Owl symphony
Park Wood, Appledore - 0700hrs - mild, sunshine/cloudy, wind increasing through the day, sw 2-5
Here we go, here we go, here we go - again! A cracking day in the field with CP (wheelman), MH (entertainments) and PL (awestruck once-a-year-birder) commenced in grand style at Park wood where we experienced the most amazing Tawny Owl symphony any of us could remember. At times five owls called around us for over half an hour, giving several flight views; a brilliant start to the year. We hardly ventured from the car park area where we mopped up on woodland birds including two fly-over Woodcocks, Buzzards, Sparrowhawk, Coal and Long-tailed Tits, Goldcrest, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Bullfinch Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers and Jay.
Walland Marsh - Moving down on to the flatlands we cleaned up on all the common thrushes, plus Golden Plover, Tree Sparrow and Yellowhammer. At Horsebones the Bewick`s Swan flock totalled 90, along with a Whooper Swan and four Tundra Bean Geese. Moving on to Scotney a 1st winter Scaup and two Black-necked Grebes were located at the Sussex end, plus the usual feral geese, Shelduck, Pintail, Dunlin and Ringed Plover near the farm. The two Cattle Egrets duly obliged in the field opposite the stone yard in Lydd.
Cattle Egret, Lydd
Greatstone Beach - We arrived just in time to clock up seven species of shorebirds including good numbers of Knot, Grey Plover and Barwit.
Dungeness - A seawatch from the boats delivered plenty of Gannets, Kittiwakes, Red-throated Divers and auks offshore, plus bonus birds in the shape of Bonxie and Red-breasted Merganser.
RSPB - Plenty of NYD birders here enjoying the sawbills, egrets, ducks and Marsh Harriers around Burrowes. Over the road from Hanson we had cracking views of two Kingfishers and a Chiffchaff.
Kingfisher, ARC
Lydd Airport - Following a tweet from NB we ended the day with another treat, a stunning male Black Redstart feeding on the deck by the hangars. We finished on a respectable 107 species of birds, but it will be the Tawny Owls that will live long in the memory.
Black Redstart, Lydd airport
Here we go, here we go, here we go - again! A cracking day in the field with CP (wheelman), MH (entertainments) and PL (awestruck once-a-year-birder) commenced in grand style at Park wood where we experienced the most amazing Tawny Owl symphony any of us could remember. At times five owls called around us for over half an hour, giving several flight views; a brilliant start to the year. We hardly ventured from the car park area where we mopped up on woodland birds including two fly-over Woodcocks, Buzzards, Sparrowhawk, Coal and Long-tailed Tits, Goldcrest, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Bullfinch Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers and Jay.
Walland Marsh - Moving down on to the flatlands we cleaned up on all the common thrushes, plus Golden Plover, Tree Sparrow and Yellowhammer. At Horsebones the Bewick`s Swan flock totalled 90, along with a Whooper Swan and four Tundra Bean Geese. Moving on to Scotney a 1st winter Scaup and two Black-necked Grebes were located at the Sussex end, plus the usual feral geese, Shelduck, Pintail, Dunlin and Ringed Plover near the farm. The two Cattle Egrets duly obliged in the field opposite the stone yard in Lydd.
Greatstone Beach - We arrived just in time to clock up seven species of shorebirds including good numbers of Knot, Grey Plover and Barwit.
Dungeness - A seawatch from the boats delivered plenty of Gannets, Kittiwakes, Red-throated Divers and auks offshore, plus bonus birds in the shape of Bonxie and Red-breasted Merganser.
RSPB - Plenty of NYD birders here enjoying the sawbills, egrets, ducks and Marsh Harriers around Burrowes. Over the road from Hanson we had cracking views of two Kingfishers and a Chiffchaff.
Lydd Airport - Following a tweet from NB we ended the day with another treat, a stunning male Black Redstart feeding on the deck by the hangars. We finished on a respectable 107 species of birds, but it will be the Tawny Owls that will live long in the memory.
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