Quatermass moment!

Lade - cold, cloudy, hazy, N 2 - 0700hrs - What an odd couple of hours on the local patch! Trudging across the shingle towards the lakes in grim weather conditions more akin to late autumn than early spring we flushed a couple of small flocks of grounded Meadow Pipits and a Wheatear. Looking south the power station was invisible, while the Dungeness fog horn was performing a fair impression  of a Bittern on helium.
  And then weird stuff happened. Whilst walking beside south lake checking out a Chiffchaff and Goldcrest in the gorse scrub a great bank of fog rolled in forcing down 50 Sand Martins and several Swallows over the water. A Song Thrush then dropped into the bushes (something of a rarity here) followed by a Snipe calling on high and then the whirring wing beats of Goldeneyes could be heard in the gloom; the long-staying seven fled east never to be seen again! As I said, weird stuff in a Quatermass-like (anyone reading this nonsense under 50, Google it!) atmosphere. More Sand Martins continued to drop in, but none stayed for long and once the fret dispersed so did the martins. Just when I thought that was that a Nightingale burst into song deep within the willow swamp, my earliest ever record. Birding continues to surprise even at my age.

                                Male Sparrowhawk on the `raptor mound`

  A late afternoon visit in humid, gloomy conditions didn't produce much over the lakes apart from a trickle of Swallows hurrying north. However, it was far more interesting at Kerton Road quarry where two Little Ringed Plovers were flying over the lake and our first Yellow Wagtail of spring passed overhead in the murk calling.
  When you watch a local patch on a regular basis there are some things you come to expect as a given, like the `raptor mound`. I always scan a small hillock of bare shingle out on the desert and expect a raptor to be sat there, most of the time of course its barren, though not so this afternoon as an adult male Sparrowhawk sat atop the stones surveying its territory. Over the years Kestrel and Sparrowhawk have been the mound`s regular sentinels, followed by Hobby, Merlin and Peregrine in that order and once a Red-footed Falcon, but best of all was a whopping great female Saker Falcon that regularly used the lookout over a decade ago.  

Spring warblers

Lade - cold, overcast, NE 4 - A grim morning with low cloud and occasional drizzle, not exactly ideal weather for my first spring breeding bird survey of the local patch. However, the highlights were seven Cetti`s Warblers holding territory, two pairs of Stonechats, 10 pairs of Little Grebes and a pair each of Green Woodpecker and Oystercatcher. Several Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps were in song around the willow swamp, while seven Goldeneyes remained on south lake.
Dungeness - A circular walk around the Long Pits and Trapping Area searching for migrants yielded 20 Chiffchaffs, 10 Willow Warblers, five Blackcaps and singles of Wheatear and Swallow.
 On the bird reserve at Boulderwall three Cattle Egrets were at the back of Cook`s Pool until flushed by a cracking male Marsh Harrier, while the immature Crane could be seen in the distant fields towards Lydd; yesterdays Red-necked Grebe was reported late afternoon on Burrowes from Dennis`s hide.
  We finished the afternoon with a seawatch at the fishing boats in the company of TG and SO. A trickle of Gannets, Sandwich Terns, Red-throated Divers, Gannets and four Common Terns east was about it.

Biking Birder comes to Dungeness

Dungeness - 0615-0815hrs - SE 4 - We don't often get the fabled south-easterly wind in spring, so I made the effort and joined the hard core in a packed seawatch hide first thing, even though it failed to live up to expectations. However, hundreds of Sandwich Terns, Gannets and Common Scoters did pass up-Channel, many of them very close to shore along with a trickle of Red-throated Divers, Kittiwakes, Common Terns, auks and Fulmars, plus four each of Bonxie, Little Gull and Manx Shearwater, two Avocets, Arctic Skua, five Knots, two Dunlins, two Curlews, four Brents and six Eiders.

                                Sunrise over Dungeness

RSPB - I showed Gary Prescott  (aka the Biking Birder) around the reserve this morning who was down to deliver a talk at the RSPB this evening. We kicked off at Boulderwall for the Tree Sparrows and onto the fields to check for the Crane which was seen around midday. Burrowes was quiet with only a Ruff of any note.
  We then moved back to the seawatch hide for more scoters, Gannets, Sandwich Terns, Red-throated Divers and three Arctic Skuas moving up-Channel. On the way out two Wheatears were noted opposite Jarman`s.
  En-route to Gary`s highly entertaining talk this evening I diverted to Makepeace hide to view the adult Red-necked Grebe that had dropped in earlier.

                                Red-necked Grebe, Burrowes

Southerly blow

Dungeness - cold, dry and sunny, S 4 - Didn't get much time in the field today but with a stiff onshore wind blowing there was only one place to be this morning - the seawatch hide, which was packed out with like-minded souls. A steady up-Channel passage of Brent Geese, Gannets, auks, Kittiwakes, Sandwich Terns, Common Scoters and Red-throated Divers was underway, plus 12 Eiders attached to a Brent flock, two Mergansers, three Bonxies, three Little Gulls, three Med Gulls, two Common Terns and four Manx Shearwaters, and all in under an hour! Half a dozen surfing Porpoises were also good value. No doubt much more was logged during the day; for a full report check out the DBO website.

                                Ringed Plover, Lade bay

  A walk along the beach this evening with Barney (off the lead, but under control) delivered a few Ringed Plovers, Sanderlings and distant Curlews and Oystercatchers, plus 20 Sandwich Terns.

Sand Martins and Manxie

Dungeness - cold, cloudy, showers, light airs - Following a night of heavy downpours the garden lawn was still covered in white hail stones in the freezing early morning air.
  A tidy seawatch from the hide (0900-1015hrs) over a flat, calm sea produced a close Manx Shearwater heading west and a distant Arctic Skua going east, both new for the year; plus 350 Brents, 80 Common Scoters, 30 Sandwich Terns, 20 Gannets, 25 Red-throated Divers, four Common Terns, Bonxie and a small grebe that was too distant to specifically identify. At least six Porpoises and a Grey Seal were offshore.
  Moving onto the bird reserve where a Black-necked Grebe and two pairs of Mediterranean Gulls were the highlight amongst good numbers of common wildfowl, 10 Ruff and two Ringed Plovers. A pair of Peregrines tussled high over the car park, two Ravens and a pair of Marsh Harriers flew over the hayfields, while we had distant views of the immature Crane on Boulderwall fields along with a cracking summer plum Black-tailed Godwit, a White Wagtail and exceptional views of a Cetti`s Warbler, for a change.
  We completed the Birdwatching Break for our guest with 97 species including a decent collection of migrant seabirds, waders, raptors, chats, warblers and a Crane.

                                Migrating Brents under glowering skies

Sand Martin - This tiny hirundine does not breed locally, but is a regular feature of the birding scene down here on its return migrations which can start as early as June, peaking in August and continue into October. Many hundreds of thousands pour south during that period and funnel onto the peninsula, feeding over the wetlands and roosting in reed beds before striking out across the Channel to France and beyond.
  However, during spring they can be surprisingly scarce as their northern migrations are undertaken across a broader front and being more dynamic than the autumn they rarely tarry awhile. During my time living here I`ve gone through several springs without seeing a single bird, but not so this year as the humble Sand Martin has been noted in unprecedented numbers. I must`ve clocked up a couple of hundred so far this spring; while around 500 pulsed over Dengemarsh this morning with hopefully many more to come throughout the month.  

Spring migrants

Dungeness - cold, cloudy, sw 4 - A superb day guiding across the peninsula for our guest with a rush of spring migrants including our first Sedge Warblers of spring on the bird reserve, plus 10 Swallows, 20 Sand Martins, two Willow Warblers and 10 Chiffchaffs, a Little Gull on Burrowes, the Crane again on the Boulderwall fields and a cracking male Merlin over. Also on the reserve, 10 Ruff, two Dunlin, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Marsh Harrier, four Buzzards, six Tree Sparrows, two Goldeneye and Raven.

                                Little Gull on Burrowes

  At the point two sessions seawatching delivered hundreds of Brent Geese and Common Scoters through, plus a good supporting cast of Sandwich and Common Terns, Mergansers, Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Gannets, auks, Mediterranean and Little Gulls; also on the sea today the first Manxie of spring and several each of Great and Arctic Skuas (MC). On the land Peregrine, Sparrowhawk, 50 Linnets, 10 Mipits, five Skylarks, three Black Redstarts, four Wheatears and six Stonechats.

                  

                                Black Redstart and Stonechat around the Old Lighthouse

                                Two Wheatears on the beach

Common Terns and Crane

Lade - cold, dry, sunny, NE 4 - Another cold morning with a brisk wind whipping in off the sea, and as a result a mixed flock of 20 Swallows and Sand Martins soon pressed inland. A pair of  Goldeneye remained on south lake and a Marsh Harrier cruised over scattering the few remaining ducks.

                                Cowslips and Wood Anemones

Birdwatching Break - After picking up Raymond from Ashford station we called in at Faggs Wood where a circuit delivered the expected resident species such as Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Buzzard, common tits and finches, plus singing Chiffchaffs and Blackcap. Dropping down onto the Marsh at Warehorne bridge ten distant Buzzards soared over Hamstreet woods.
  Moving onto the coast at Littlestone, Redshanks, Turnstones, Curlews and Oystercatchers were the only waders on show along with a few distant Sandwich Terns. A seawatch from the fishing boats at Dungeness delivered two superb close Red-throated Divers in summer plumage on the sea, a trickle of Gannets, Kittiwakes, Sandwich Terns, two Mergansers and our first two Common Terns of spring. Several Porpoises were offshore and a couple of Wheatears noted opposite Jarman`s.
It was then onto ARC, from Hanson hide, where a `booming` Bittern, a Ruff and a range of common wildfowl completed the afternoons birding.

                               Common Crane, Boulderwall fields

  An evening phone call from MC told of a Common Crane on the bird reserve at the back of Cook`s pool on the Boulderwall fields. We had distant views through the scope before the light faded, while Great White and Little Egrets noted flying to roost.