Feeding frenzy

Dungeness - warm, dry and sunny, n 3 - After a chilly night it soon warmed up and turned into a gorgeous autumnal day - but not for land birds. They were few and far between this morning across the peninsula with only a handful of Chiffchaffs, Whitethroats, Meadow Pipits and a Black Redstart on the power station wall of any note, while a Grasshopper Warbler was ringed at the Obs earlier. However, there was more action on the sea out from the Patch where a couple of hundred gulls, terns, Gannets and several Arctic Skuas were in action feeding on a shoal of sprats.
  It was a similar picture passerine wise at Lade with a just a few common warblers in the bushes around the ponds. The small area of gravel and mud in the Willow Swamp did, however, attract a Greenshank, Wood and Common Sandpipers, six Little Egrets and two Grey Herons. There was no change to the wildfowl and grebe numbers from last week on the lakes, while Marsh Harrier, Buzzard, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel soared behind the `mirrors`.
  An hour at the fishing boats this afternoon delivered more of the same from this morning with plenty of gulls, terns and Gannets fishing offshore, plus 20 Kittiwakes, a Little Gull, four Curlews, a Guillemot and up to ten Arctic Skuas. Grey and Common Seal and five Porpoises also enjoyed the feeding frenzy.

Short-toed Eagle!

Romelaere, St Omer - warm, dry and sunny, sw 3 - Well, well, well, I was expecting a quiet day birding in northern France with Chris Philpot when at midday a large raptor hove into view from the north as we were watching Marsh Harriers. I immediately called "Osprey", until that is I got onto it in the scope and it banked around looking a whole lot different: a large eagle-like raptor with pale grey and white underparts, contrasting dark head with a broken necklace band, a whitish band around the upper rump onto the belly, darker wing tips on the underside and a banded tail. As the bird approached and flew overhead we both called, "Short-toed Eagle"! I then fumbled around with the bridge camera to get off a few shots, of which only the one below was of any use, albeit in silhouette.
  Over the course of the next three hours we watched the bird at some distance and into the light, so mostly in silhouette, soaring on flattish wings and at times appearing to hang in the strengthening wind, sometimes dangling its legs; when gliding the carpals were pressed forward as in the pic below.
Other raptors seen through the day included five Marsh Harriers, several Common Buzzards, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk and Hobby.

                                Short-toed Eagle over Romelaere

  Moving onto less unexpected fare, yet still of interest was a colony of five pairs of Cattle Egrets with 15 well grown juveniles in willow tree nests. When we visited site back in April none were present in the mixed Cormorant/Little Egret tree colony, which means the Cattle Egrets must`ve colonised after the others had finished breeding, probably from June onwards.
  Other birds noted on the reserve: White Stork, Spoonbill, Great White Egret, Kingfisher, Whimbrel, Jay, Marsh Tit, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Swifts, hirundines and mixed tit and Chiffchaff flocks with Blackcaps and Lesser Whitethroats.
  A superb day out that will live long in the memory for the snake eagle, and many thanks to Chris for driving.

                                Cattle Egret colony, Romelaere

Wryneck - at last !

Dungeness - wet and windy til mid-morning, clearing to sunshine, sw 5 - A breezy, damp start to the day found us in the seawatch hide where a steady westward passage of mostly Sandwich and a few Common Terns was underway along with plenty of Gannets, five Black Terns, a Fulmar, a distant Arctic Skua and a Whimbrel that flew along the beach. An adult Lesser and Great Black-backed Gull posed on the beach for size comparison.

                                Lesser and Greater Black-backed Gulls

  As the rain relented and the sun broke through we arrived on the bird reserve in time to see a Cattle Egret feeding amongst the cows on the fields by Boulderwall close to the road. On Burrowes three Greenshanks and two Common Sandpipers were the only waders of note and a Hobby flew over. A large, mixed passerine flock by Dennis`s hide comprised mostly Long-tailed, Great and Blue Tits, Chaffinches, Robin, Blackbird, Greenfinch, Willow Warblers, Common and Lesser Whitethroats, Blackcap and Sedge Warbler.

                                Greenshank from Firth hide

  On the way out we had a final check for the Wryneck from the access road as I`d only had the briefest of views and Raymond had dipped altogether over the past two days. Within ten minutes, in warm sunshine, the Wryneck perched out in the open atop the brambles twice for about 30 seconds each time. Not enough to get the camera into action but enough to gain good views of this elusive drift migrant, and a satisfying finish to the Birdwatching Break for our guest, during which time we rattled up 104 species.

Fishing terns

Lade - mild, cloudy, w 2 - We checked the ponds first thing for passerines but it was a disappointment after yesterdays glut with only a handful of Willow Warblers and a Blackcap noted. Elsewhere, on south lake a Common Sandpiper, on north lake six Mediterranean Gulls, a Hobby over the Desert, plus Sparrowhawk, Common Buzzard and Kestrel behind the `mirrors`.
  Moving onto the bird reserve where a circuit produce very little apart from another Hobby and a Stonechat from the Return Trail; Bearded Tits, Greenshank, Marsh Harriers and three Great White Egrets on Dengemarsh; Pintail, Wigeon and Common Sandpipers on Burrowes. From the access road the Wryneck again showed intermittently and a Cattle Egret was following the stock on Boulderwall fields.

                                Stonechat, Return Trail

  A two hour seawatch this afternoon with the regulars was memorable for a flock of Sandwich and Common Terns fishing close to shore on sprats and mackerels, along with three Black and two Little Terns, plus a juvenile Kittiwake, several Gannets and loads of gulls. Two Arctic Skuas were also noted further out along with 10 plus Harbour Porpoises and a Grey Seal.

                               Juvenile Kittiwake and Sandwich Terns

                                Smart catch of Mackerel

  From the Romney Tavern viewpoint we were a bit early on the falling tide but did have cracking views of three juvenile Sanderlings.

                                Juvenile Sanderlings on the beach

  We finished the day with an evening visit to Hanson hide where a scattering of the usual waterfowl and gulls were present, plus good views of Hobby, Sparrowhawk and Marsh Harrier, and two distant Black Terns.

Lots of Knots!

Lade -cool, sunny, light airs - A cracking couple of hours on the local patch first thing with plenty of warblers around the ponds; at least 20 Willow and five each of Common Whitethroat, Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Reed Warbler amongst a flock of tits, Chaffinches, Blackbirds, Reed Buntings and a Spotted Flycatcher. A mixed flock of 50 Yellow Wagtails and 20 Meadow Pipits grounded on the Desert kept me busy as 100 plus House Martins twittered overhead. On south lake a Black-tailed Godwit on the island and a Greenshank over calling. Also noted, Marsh Harrier, Sparrowhawk, Great White Egret and Green Woodpecker.

                                Black-tailed Godwit, south lake island

                                Grebe family, Lade

                                Two Yellow Wagtails from the Desert flock


Birdwatching Break - We started a three day Birding Break this afternoon for Raymond, one of our regular visitors from London, commencing on the bird reserve where a Wryneck showed briefly in scrub from the access road. Far more obliging were a couple of Whinchats and Wheatears and further along the track 120 Golden Plovers on the shingle amongst the gulls. Burrowes was much quieter since my last visit now that the majority of Common Terns have moved south. There was no sign of yesterdays Red-backed Shrike from the Return Trail. Over the road there were plenty of birds on offer from Hanson hide, the highlights being, Greenshank, Snipe, two Ruffs, Redshank, Black Tern, Garganey, Wigeon, Great White Egret, Black-tailed Godwit, Ringed Plover and three Dunlins.

                                A few of the many Knots on the bay

  We then moved onto the beach and scanned the bay on a falling tide from the Romney Tavern lookout at 1630hrs, and it was superb, full of waders, gulls and terns with my largest ever count of Knots, at 320! The supporting cast wasn't bad either with 500 Oystercatchers, 250 Curlews, 200 Dunlins, 50 Sanderlings, 20 Ringed Plovers, 20 Bar-tailed Godwits, two Redshanks and our first four Grey Plovers of autumn. Surprisingly, at least 10 Little Terns flew along the tideline fishing, while 260 Sandwich and 20 Common Terns loafed on the sands.
  An evening visit to Screen hide delivered two more Greenshanks and Garganeys, three Black Terns, three Black-tailed Godwits, Common Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank, Sparrowhawk, Little Grebe and hundreds of hirundines. 

                                Last knockings from Tower Pits

Quiet weekend

Lade - fine, dry and sunny, light airs - I`ve been plagued by some kind of energy sapping, man-cold over the weekend which has restricted birding to short walks over the local patch and around the garden. A Great White Egret on south lake was the first for a while where the usual morning swarms of hirundines were present along with hundreds of wildfowl and grebes. Yellow Wagtails, two Tree Pipits, a few Swallows and a Swift passed overhead south with several Wheatears and a Whinchat on the Desert.
  Moth trapping has been short on quality but big on quantity; so plenty of Setaceous Hebrew Characters, Shuttle-shaped Darts and Common Wainscots. Little Egret, Common Buzzard, Curlews, Sandwich and Common Terns all flew over the garden today while a steady passage of Willow Warblers and a Lesser Whitethroat moved through the shrubs and fir trees. Numerous Migrant hawkers, Hummingbird Hawk-moths, Red Admirals, Painted Ladies and Holly Blues were noted throughout the weekend.
  It appears to have been a quiet weekend of birds around the Dungeness peninsula with a Wryneck and Red-backed Shrike on the reserve and an Osprey and Pomarine Skua off the point this morning the highlights.

  The new lid is now firmly installed on the cottage, so all we need now is good downpour to test it out!

Early autumn migrants

Lade - warm, dry and sunny, w 3 - After a few days away on a family camping holiday to Pevensey it felt good to be back out and about around the local patch with Barney in tow. There was a typical early autumn feel to the birding scene with hundreds of Sand Martins swarming over south lake along with a few Swallows, House Martins and two late Swifts. Two juvenile Marsh Harriers and a Buzzard kept the wildfowl on their toes and at least 200 Curlews flew to roost on the incoming tide from the bay. Great Crested Grebes numbers continue to increase with a count of 125 across all waters. Migrant passerines of note included several Willow Warblers and Common Whitethroats around the ponds, Yellow Wagtails over and two Wheatears and a Whinchat on the Desert.
 An evening visit to the beach produced the usual waders and terns, plus an Arctic Skua harrying Sandwich Terns on the distant tideline.

                                Cattle Egret

                                Golden Plovers

ARC - Late morning from Hanson hide delivered 180 Lapwings, 160 Golden Plovers, three Ruffs, Greenshank, Common Sandpiper, Snipe and Knot, plus a juv Cattle Egret, Garganey, Great White Egret and several White Wagtails. From the entrance to the boardwalk a few Willow Warblers and a Spotted Flycatcher.