Magpies

Dungeness - 0800hrs - cold, cloudy, sw 3, then nw 4 rain - Joined PB for just under the hour for a look at the sea from the boats where the expected trickle of Gannets and Kittiwakes were joined by a few auks, Red-throated Divers, Common Scoters and 50ish Great Crested Grebes on the sea. On the move west were 18 Brents, 15 Wigeon, 15 Dunlin, 2 Teal and a Mallard. And then the rain arrived...
Scotney - All the usual Wigeon, Goldies, Lapwings, feral geese on the grass, while the Long-tailed Duck looked settled in for the duration on the lake. On the way home a Great White Egret flew over the causeway road heading for the reserve.
Lade - With the rain band passing over by mid-afternoon we checked the pits where yesterdays 2 Goldeneyes remained on north lake and a couple of Marsh Harriers hunted over the farmland towards the airport. Chiffchaff, Cetti`s Warbler, Water Rail and Long-tailed Tits were all heard in the willow swamp. In fading light we hung around to see if anything came to roost and indeed 3 Little Egrets flew in along with 26 Magpies plus a few Blackbirds, Song Thrushes and Woodpigeons.

Bewick`s Swans

Lade - 0800hrs - cold, bright and sunny,  nw 4 - A nippy old day due to the brisk north-westerly. Nothing much new on the pits apart from 2 Shelducks. Overhead, single figures of Goldfinch, Mipit and Skylark.
ARC - From Hanson hide several hundred wildfowl on the lake including 3 Goldeneyes. Raptors of note were a Marsh Harrier hunting Coot in mid-water and a Merlin bathing on the far side. Also noted singles of Kingfisher and Great White Egret, 4 Little Egrets and 2 Chiffchaffs in the willows.

                                Bewick`s and Mute Swans, Walland Marsh

Walland Marsh - Bewick`s Swans  - Now, what is there not to like about these beautiful wild swans that grace us with their presence about this time of year. Having abandoned their nesting grounds on the Russian tundra they will spend the next three months or so grazing on oil-seed rape greenery or grubbing around on potato fields. They are easy to see from the back road between Lydd and Brookland, so enjoy them while you can and there should be many more to come yet.

Lade wildfowl & waders

Lade - 0900hrs - mild, overcast, drizzle, light airs - A repeat performance from yesterday on the  weather front and with hardly any wind south pit was covered in gulls and wildfowl, mostly Coot and Gadwall but with around 50 each of Shoveler, Teal and Wigeon plus 4 Common Scoters which are pretty scarce here. North pit held less birds but did include the first 2 Goldeneyes of the season. Passerines were much in evidence with Chiffchaff, Cetti`s Warbler, Mipit, Skylark, 10 Blackbirds, 5 Goldfinches and 2 Song Thrushes. Several Water Rails called from the reed-swamp while 2 Marsh Harriers were on the wing behind the `mirrors`.
To complete the circuit of the local patch we cut back along the beach on an incoming tide where seven species of waders were noted, some of which were roosting on the shingle. The Curlews however flew over the coast road heading for the storm beaches out on the Desert.

                                Oystercatcher roost, Lade beach

                                Redshanks, Lade beach

                               Sanderlings, Lade beach

Gannets & Blackbirds

Dungeness  - mild, overcast, drizzle, ne 2 - In contrast to yesterdays bright blue skies today was the opposite with low cloud and poor light. However, an hour at the boats delivered about 50 Gannets feeding offshore along with hundreds of gulls. Several Kittiwakes and Red-throated Divers came and went, while a party of 50 Starlings came in off the sea.
RSPB - Spent some time checking the pits for any unusual diving ducks without success with just 3  Goldeneye on ARC, plus a Kingfisher, 3 Great White Egrets, 20 Pintails, 100 Golden Plovers and a Stonechat elsewhere around the site. There was a noticeable influx in Blackbirds on ARC with about 20 on the walk down to the pines along with a mixed flock of tits, mostly Long-tails.
Jean and Sarah ended up with around 90 species over the weekend with the highlights being the Redpolls at the Obs and the `Grey Ghost` coming to roost on Walland Marsh.
A Black Kite was reported on Walland this morning and again this afternoon on the bird reserve.

Autumn meets winter...

Dungeness - 0900hrs - mild, sunny, light airs - perfect weather for a days birding around the Marsh, and what a great day it turned out for Jean and Sarah. At the Patch a single 1st winter Little Gull was noted amongst the hundreds of Black-heads, while offshore a few Gannets, Kittiwakes and Common Scoters drifted into Rye Bay. On the walk back a singing Black Redstart in the power station was joined by a second bird, plus Pied Wagtails and a flyover Raven.
At the Obs both Lesser and Common Redpolls were studied in the hand, a Chiffchaff in the garden, while a few Mipits and Goldfinches passed overhead.

                                Common Redpoll, DBO

                                Lesser Redpoll, male, DBO

RSPB - From the access road several Marsh Harriers, Curlews, Lapwings and 3 Great White Egrets on the fields at Boulderwall but we could find no sign of the Glossy Ibis. On Burrowes at least 20 Pintails and 2 Shelducks amongst the hundreds of wildfowl. A brief view of a Bittern on Hookers plus Common Buzzard, 2 Peregrines, Cetti`s Warbler, Bearded Tits pinging in the reedbed and a Stonechat at the Corral.
Scotney - As we pulled up by the double bends the Long-tailed Duck was one of the closest birds to the shore and showed well. All the usual feral geese elsewhere plus Golden Plovers and Wigeon with a few Dunlin and Redshanks.
Walland Marsh  - A flavour of winter to finish the day, and fabulous to see them back, a flock of 14 Bewick`s Swan in a distant field towards Old Romney (thanks for the text Plod), 5 Skylarks and a Corn Bunting plus a Little Owl on a nearby barn. The Midley feeders yielded Tree Sparrows and Goldfinches, plus Sparrowhawk and Common Buzzard nearby.
Finished off at a harrier roost site where 6 Marsh Harriers came in plus a spanking male, `grey ghost` Hen Harrier, which was without doubt bird-of-the-day, and the sunset was pretty impressive too.

                                Sunset over Walland Marsh

Egrets & Harriers

Lade Bay - 1330hrs - cold, sunny, n3 - With two of our regulars, Jean and Sarah, down for a weekends birding we commenced at Littlestone checking the bay for waders in superb afternoon sunshine. Of the ten regular winter waders we failed to find a Grey Plover and only singles of Ringed Plover and Redshank. Three Dark-bellied Brents were also noted on the sands along with all the usual gulls.

                                Little Egret, ARC

                                Sunset, Boulderwall

ARC - From Screen and Hanson hides 3 Great White Egrets present plus 2 Littles and several Grey Herons. At least 6 different Marsh Harriers came and went, all of which were juv/females. On the water hundreds of wintering wildfowl including 4 Goldeneyes. A Lapwing flock flying around looking for somewhere to land held a single Golden Plover. A Long-tailed Tit flock by the willow trail contained a Firecrest, a Chiffchaff called from cover near Screen while the Tree Sparrows went to roost in the scrub by the car park.
A quick look from Boulderwall turned up Dabchick and Water Rail on the pool, plus a stunning sunset.

Divers & Spoonbills - Cap Gris-Nez

Cap Gris-Nez - Cloudy, rain clearing, cool, nw 5 - With the weather lords forecasting a north-westerly blow, together with the Joker, and Marshman at the wheel, we journeyed under the sea to arrive at the seawatching hot spot of Gris-Nez for first light. Spent the morning birding from the platform lookout where a flock of up to 150 Common Scoters were on the sea below throughout the watch, plus up to 100 regular gulls and Cormorants. While most of the seabirds we logged were just offshore there were, literally, thousands of auks, Kitts and Gannets passing west in mid-Channel. Seawatching from the Cap is completly different from sea-level Dunge as you`re looking down on the birds and the light is from behind, making identification much easier.
Virtually the first decent bird through was a cracking close Great Northern Diver,  followed by 15 Black-throated and 15 Red-throated Divers throughout the morning along with 30 Pintail, 80 Wigeon, 2 Mallard, 2 Gadwall, 5 Brent Geese, 20 Great Crested Grebes, 2 Velvet Scoter, 2 Shelduck, 200 Dunlin, 8 Bonxies, 20 Med Gulls and 8 Little Gulls. While the divers were the highlight of the watch the biggest surprises was a flock of 4 Spoonbills!
Also around the Cap, a flock of c2,000 Starlings in the fields, 50 Chaffinches, 20 Greenfinches, 10 Goldfinches and single figures of Redwing, Fieldfare, Skylark, Peregrine and Kestrel, plus a Grey Seal offshore. 

                                4 Spoonbills, Cap Gris-Nez

                                Common Scoters, Cap Gris-Nez

                                Seawatching, Cap Gris-Nez

We then spent the afternoon mooching around a few local sites with the fields at Gris-Nez delivering a covey of 5 Grey Partridges and small flocks of Fieldfares, Skylarks and Chaffinches. A small copse near an old gun emplacement harboured a few thrushes, tits, Green Woodpecker and a Chiffchaff.

                                Ambleteuse

At Ambleteuse Kingfisher, Sanderling and Rock Pipit were noted and we discovered a good looking wetland reserve separate from the wildfowling lagoons at Tardinghen that held Teal and Dabchick. Driving the lanes back towards Blanc-Nez two small herds of Roe Deer were logged along with up to 10 Brown Hares, plus a flock of 500 Herring, Lesser and Great Black-backed Gulls.
Another great day in the Pas-de-Calais with plenty of jokes and anecdotes along the way.