Dungeness - 6-8 May 2013

I made my spring trip to Dunge at the beginning of the week.  I headed down in the late afternoon on Monday 6th.  I went straight to the seawatching hide at about 5.30pm.  Within 30 mins my first Pomarine Skua went passed and until 7.30pm another 3 flew East.  I also had 1 Arctic and  1 high Bonxie over the hide.  Then news of a Montagu's Harrier came in over the entrance to the RSPB, so I jumped in with Andy L and made my way round there.  We didn't get even close - it might have been a Hen anyway.

Next day I was up at 4.50am and after a walk around an empty moat I headed to the sea again.  I stayed until 9.00am and had another 9 Poms, 1 Arctic and 1 Bonxie.  Later, back at the sea during the early evening, I had a flock of 8 Velvet Scoter heading East.  Elsewhere, I headed over to Scotney to look for the Long-tailed Duck which I found on one of the back pits with a Wood Sandpiper as a bonus.  Finishing off at Denge Marsh there was a booming Bittern.  Migrants were thin on the ground with only Yellow Wags in any abundance.  3 Hobbies over the Water Tower by ARC was nice though.  The trapping area and desert was hard work for a few Chiffs and Willow Warblers.

Finally on the last day, Wednesday 8th, I went for another early seawatch, which was cut short by heavy and persistent rain.  It did yield 1 Pom, 8 Velvet Scoter, 1 Roseate Tern and 1 Black Tern.

A total of 94 species over a couple of days wasn't bad, despite no particularly exciting arrivals...

The moth trap only yielded 3 Tawny Shears.

Some updates.

I've not birded that much in Medway this year, but did see the Long-tailed Duck again in January at Chatham Maritime and went out for the Red-necked Grebe at Cliffe:


Red-necked Grebe - Timber Lake, Cliffe Pools, Kent on 16th Feb.

I went across to see the Hooded Merganser at Whetsted GP's on 29th Feb:


Hooded Merganser - Whetsted Gravel Pits on 29th Feb.

On Thursday 15th March I went across to Sheppey and spent a few hours around Elmley RSPB. Good for raptors, but not much else other than two Med Gulls flying over. I found a couple of Marsh Harriers, a single ringtail Hen Harrier, a Peregrine, a Merlin and this Short-eared Owl:


Short-eared Owl, Elmley RSPB on 15th March.

I heard my first singing Chiffchaff this morning in the garden and have just got the moth trap running again. So far I've only had a few species:
Hebrew Character
Common Quaker
Early Grey
CLouded Drab
Small Quaker

Dungeness - 8th December 2011

I went down to Dungeness today to try and find the Hume's Leaf Warbler, but after a good 1.5 hrs thrashing around the trapping area, I was wet, cold and still hadn't found it. There were a few birds about with 4 Goldcrest, 1 Siberian Chiffchaff and a few Blue and Great Tits. Then I went for a seawatch for another 1.5 hrs which didn't yield a huge amount - 38+ Guillemots, 1 Red-throated Diver, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers and a Great-crested Grebe as well as Gannets, Cormorants and a variety of the more common gulls.

However, I then went out towards the fishing boats and found the Glaucous Gull sitting within easy photo distance of the car. I didn't even see the Caspian Gull next to it until Dave pointed it out! The Casp was a Kent tick for me, having seen them before at RSPB Rainham.

I then drove back ot the ARC pit and saw the Great White Egret on the way there. From ARC I saw the recent Peduline Tit, Long-tailed Duck, Goldeneye and almost all the more common ducks.

Not a bad day for December with two year ticks and one kent.



Glaucous Gull



Caspian Gull



Penduline Tit

Long-tailed Duck at Chatham Maritime 27/10/2011

I went across to Chatham Maritime this evening after hearing that there was a Juv Long-tailed Duck present. This was a Kent tick for me and so it would have been rude not to go. Anyway, a pretty little duck which kept swimming into the centre of the East Basin whenever someone walked along the the edge and then was always on the move! I managed a couple of shots with my new digiscoping kit.