NYD (+1) Birding

News Day (+1) Bird Count - 0700hrs - dry, bright and sunny, cold n 3 - With CP at the helm I joined MH and PL for our annual, leisurely jaunt around the Marsh, commencing off-piste in the Orlestone Forest at Appledore. With the overnight rain clearing just in time for the dawn chorus, we cleaned up on the woodland birds without moving from the car park! Several Tawny Owls were vocalising in the half light and a Woodcock flew through as Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Coal and Long-tailed Tits, Goldcrest, two woodpeckers, Jay and Bullfinch were all added to the day list.
  Back on the flatlands (phew, I got altitude sickness up on the Weald!) we paused along the canal at Warehorne bridge where the muddy margins attracted a bonus bird in the shape of a Green Sandpiper, plus a Kingfisher, Little Egret and plenty of winter thrushes in the fields. Driving across Walland, Yellowhammer, Tree Sparrow, Golden Plover, Peregrine and 29 Bewick`s Swans were all noted, but passerines were few and far between and partridges absent.
  At Scotney we walked outback in bright sunshine and located a range of wildfowl including 10 White-fronted Geese, a Brent and 30 Shelducks, 10 Corn Buntings, two Stonechats, another Peregrine and several Redshanks on the front fields. Galloways and Dengemarsh delivered a flock of Linnets, Mipits, Curlew and Ruff, a scarce bird in these parts nowadays.
  En-route to Lade Bay we passed a straggle of twitchers on the Desert searching for the grey stonechat. On the beach with the tide flooding in we eventually located eight species of waders.
Moving on to Dungeness the expected seabirds were noted offshore and a Caspian Gull on the shingle opposite the Fish Hut.

                                1st winter Caspian Gull

The bird reserve was packed out with visitors enjoying the fine weather;  I often wonder where most of them disappear to for the rest of the year! Anyhow, around the circuit we logged the wintering  Ring-necked Duck and Long-eared Owl, Smew, Pintail, Great White Egret, Raven, Bearded Tit and, best of all the magical sight and sound of the Bewicks Swan flock from Walland flying in to roost on ARC.
  We finished the day at the Woolpack reedbed where eight Marsh Harriers came to roost with several more birds in the area, plus Buzzards. On the way home we jammed a Little Owl near Old Romney bringing our combined day total to 108 species. A great days birding was enjoyed by all and many thanks to Chris for driving.

                                Ring-necked Duck, Boulderwall

White-fronted Geese

Lade - mild, wet and windy - As we bid our guests farewell at 2am this morning, roosting Starlings cackling away in the leylandii became our first bird of the year. With our New Year jaunt deferred until tomorrow we spent some time on the local patch where it was pretty much the same birds as yesterday, apart from a surprise in the form of five White-fronted Geese that flew in from the bay and headed inland. The Slavonian Grebe took a bit of finding as it hugged the main reed bed by the willow swamp, while the regular five Goldeneyes were amongst the common ducks on the lake. A Great White Egret lurked amongst the reeds and two Marsh Harriers battled into the wind behind the `mirrors`. The shorebird count was similar to yesterday.

Last words

New Years Eve - grim and grey - 1000hrs - A mild but overcast weather note on which to finish 2016. A circuit of the local patch, for the benefit of anyone attempting a NYDay Birdcount tomorrow (we`re delaying ours until Monday due to the weather) delivered a Slavonian Grebe, Great White Egret and two Pintail on south lake, plus a supporting cast elsewhere around the lakes of Water Rail, Kingfisher, Chiffchaff and Cetti`s Warbler. On a flood tide eight species of waders were noted on the beach with only Redshank and Ringed Plover absent from the usual ten.
Last Words
And so it ends, another year in which the human population continues to spiral towards disaster for planet Earth and our ever diminishing biodiversity. Currently there are around 7.5 billion of us (with 11 billion predicted by the end of the century) and the impact we are having on the natural world is catastrophic. Everywhere you look human activity has forced mega-fauna into ever more isolated pockets as they desperately try to escape the insatiable appetite of mankind for land.
  The levels of decline in so short a time period are quite staggering: for example, before colonisation by Europeans, Africa held 20 million Elephants, now there are less than 400,000, while big cats are predicted to be extinct in the wild within 20 years. Even though most of us will never see such fabulous animals in their native lands, it would be good to know that they are still there for the health of the planet as a whole.
  The Holocene epoch, or Sixth Extinction, has already claimed many species. The Quagga and Passenger Pigeon will soon be joined by many more unfortunates as they fall foul of the ravages of this human induced extinction. Looking around the planet at our world leaders doesn't give much hope for the future either. There`s a warmonger in the Kremlin and a climate change denier about to take up the presidency in the USA, and all the while the religious zealots in the Middle East continue their tribal savagery.
  On the hopeful side there is a far greater awareness of environmental damage and the long term effects it can have, particularly in the so called developed world. Although, far too often we dismiss these portents if it impacts on our rampant consumerism for the latest must-have item, often produced in some impoverished sweat shop in the Far East.
  Anyway, rant over for another year! So, things can only get better, and being a glass half full kind-of-a-bloke I`m sure 2017 will be full of surprises and positive tales more locally, regarding the flora and fauna of Dungeness and Romney Marsh. 
  To finish on I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our guests that have joined Pat, myself and Barney this past year at Plovers and we look forward to seeing many of you again in future. And finally to the many kind words of support I`ve received from readers of this blog throughout the year, a sincere thank you. I`m most humbled and I will attempt to keep it regularly updated in 2017.
  A happy and peaceful New Year to one and all.

More of the same

Lade - The past few days have been perfect for winter birding being cold, dry and sunny with light airs, and mercifully we seem to have missed the fog that's plagued other areas of the region. On the local patch a Slavonian Grebe appears to have settled on south lake along with a range of common wildfowl, plus Smew and Great White Egret coming and going.
  Elsewhere, around Dungeness the Ring-necked Duck remained at Boulderwall, a Long-eared Owl roosted intermittently behind the Dipping Pond and the Eastern Stonechat was still in scrub at the Kerton Road triangle. At Scotney White-fronted Geese and a Black-necked Grebe were noted, while the Bewick`s Swan flock at Horse`s Bones Farm increased in number to 25. At Littlestone golf links a Short-eared Owl was reported hunting during the afternoon.

2016 Review

The 2016 birding year was one of contrasting highs and lows, sprinkled with rare and scare birds, and one or two truly memorable days with migrant influxes. So, a fairly typical year really, a potted history of which went something like this:
  A spring Gull-billed Tern and a Laughing Gull on Burrowes and the Patch respectively were the rarities of the year, followed in June by a Black Kite low over Lade beach and a stunning American Golden Plover down at Rye. Other scarcities included Glaucous and Iceland Gulls, Roseate Tern, Melodious Warbler, Rose-coloured Starling, Pallas`s Warbler, Little Auk and Dotterel also at Dungeness, plus Glossy Ibis, Cattle Egret, Stone Curlew, Red-necked Phalarope and Ring-necked Duck on the RSPB reserve, and a Stejneger`s Stonechat at Lydd-on-Sea.

                              

                                Laughing Gull and Little Auk, The Patch

                                Rosy Starling by DBO

  As for breeding birds, species such as Marsh Harrier, Bittern, Water Rail, Cetti`s Warbler and Bearded Tit continued to profit from maturing reedbeds, and a pair of Black-necked Grebes attempted to breed locally. This was in contrast to declining numbers of terns and waders, most of which failed completely due to predation or human disturbance. Peregrine, Raven and Black Redstarts all bred around the power station complex, with mixed results, while Wheatear numbers were again perilously low on the shingle beach.

                               Black-necked Grebe in its nuptial finery

  However, things were far worse on the farmland tracts (where, post Brexit, more marginal land went under the plough on Walland Marsh) with only a handful of migrant Turtle Doves and Cuckoos present, and Tree Sparrow productivity was poor at the remaining known colonies. Our only Grey Partridge was of a singing bird on the army ranges, but on a positive note Scotney farm was the go-to place for declining Corn Buntings, Yellow Wagtails and Little Owls.

                                Male Yellow Wagtail, Scotney Farm

  Great White Egrets steadily increased their presence locally and surely it can`t be too long before they breed locally. There was a notable passage of Red Kites in the spring, as well as House Martins and Willow Warblers in the autumn, while Dartford Warblers and Long-eared Owls were present at both ends of the year. Common Buzzards continued to expand their range across the Romney Marsh. The sea was profitable at times, providing a memorable passage of Little Gulls in January, divers in spring, summer shearwaters and a notable Pomarine Skua passage on 6th May comprising well over 100 `spooners`.

                                Great White Egrets, Burrowes
                          

                                     Roosting Long-eared Owl behind the Dipping Pool

  But if I had to pick a couple of stand out memories from 2016 it would go to two contrasting species. Firecrests are always a delight to see, but late March witnessed an unprecedented fall comprising hundreds of these tiny sprites across the Dungeness peninsula. Small flocks gathered in the lighthouse garden to feed on insects attracted to yellow-topped euphorbias, much to the delight of many birdwatchers as their arrival coincided with the busy Easter weekend, and we even had several birds in the Plovers garden for guests to saviour.

                                Fabulous Firecrests in the old lighthouse garden

  Most Ospreys passing over the shingle in autumn pause briefly over the gravel pit lakes before being harried on their way south by the larger gulls that fly up to `greet` them; infact, during September we watched this type of interaction on several occasions on the bird reserve. Just imagine my surprise then as I approached Lade pits one sunny morning in October to be confronted by an Osprey sat atop the wall `mirror` breakfasting on a large carp! Over the following fortnight this magnificent raptor delighted many visiting birders as it plundered the lake for fish. It may have been a juvenile bird but it had a good strike rate in the carp-rich waters of Lade and I like to think that some of its weight gain it put on here helped it to reach its winter quarters in west Africa.
  During the year we recorded 215 species on our ramblings across the Marsh, but for me the local patch Osprey was `Bird of the Year`.

                                 Lade Osprey
 

Sunbathing Sparrowhawk

Lade  - cool, dry and sunny, nw 2 - A stunning morning with bright sunshine and a cooler north-westerly airflow making it feel more like winter. We flogged out across the Desert to Mockmill where three Stonechats, several Wrens and Blackbirds, a Mipit and two Snipe were the best muster from the sewer scrub. Behind the `mirrors` a couple of Marsh Harriers, a Kestrel and distant flock of Lapwings. The Slavonian Grebe showed well on south lake along with five Goldeneyes, 160 Shovelers and over a thousand gull, mostly Black-headed and Common, plus an adult Caspian amongst the Herring Gulls.

                                Gorse flower in the sunshine

                                Sparrowhawk sunbathing                              

  The south facing side of the willow swamp was a magnet for loafing ducks, grebes and Coots where, sheltered from the wind, the warm sunshine created perfect conditions for a spot of sun-bathing. Whilst scanning the willows in an ever hopeful quest for a roosting Long-eared Owl I came across a female Sparrowhawk perched within an alcove of branches enjoying the warmth. Just below, some of the ducks tucked into the bank had steam rising off their bodies as the sun worked its magic and the hawk twisted and turned her head in fascination as the wisps rose around her and vaporised.
  I settled down to watch, as Barney also found a sunny hollow in the shingle, and over the next half an hour the Sparrowhawk exposed every part of her body to the life-giving rays, including wing raising and plumage shaking making her look the size of a Goshawk!
  This afternoon CP accompanied us for a roost watch at the back of the pits during which we recorded four Marsh Harriers, a Little Egret and hundreds of Lapwings, Stock Doves, Woodpigeons and corvids.

Stejneger`s Stonechat, Lydd-on-Sea

Lade - mild and cloudy - Another unseasonably mild day with occasional flirtations through the clouds by the sun. A Peregrine sat atop the wall `mirror` keeping the wildfowl and Woodpigeons on `Orange Alert`(if you`re under 60, look it up!) but I couldn't locate the Slavonian Grebe on south lake. Elsewhere during a circuit of the local patch a Great White Egret flew over the willow swamp, where Chiffchaff and Cetti`s Warbler were also noted, while along the beach hundreds of gulls and waders had returned to feed on an ebb tide.

                               Stejneger`s Stonechat, Saxicola stejneri, Lydd-on-Sea

Eastern Stonechat, Lydd-on-Sea
Following DNA (poo) analysis the distinctive grey stonechat present in and around the Kerton Road triangle scrub between 8th November and 5th December has been confirmed as a stejneri type. The so called `Stejneger`s Stonechat` is one of several races attributed to the tricky to identify taxon of Eastern Stonechats (including Siberian and Caspian types) that breed across central Asia and Siberia.
  As Siberean Stonechat, Saxicola maurus has been recently elevated to full species status by the BBRC/BOU it therefore follows that the race stejneri falls under the Eastern banner making it somewhat rarer than we first thought; I`m not much of a lister, but that would increase our year list to 215 species, if only I were counting! Seriously though, following a lean autumn migration season down here this record was welcome news, even if it was confirmed by scientific wizardry that most of us don't understand.
  But, rather than try to work out why it was one, based on confusing field observations, I think I shall just reflect in awe at the vast distances it travelled across Eurasia to pitch up on our shores.