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.

Nightingales and Stilts - 6th May 2012

0530 - Nightingale survey at Riverside CP.  Only one singing, but a Turtle Dove purring in the background made for a pleasing sound to show the Maltese shooters that the birds will somehow get through.  Also about were a few Reed Warblers, one Lesser Whitethroat, lots of Whitethroat, a couple of Willow Warblers and a few Chiffs.

1615 - A quick trip over to Elmley for the Black-winged Stilts; 4 of them!  Loads about on Elmley as well. Up to 4 SEO's, 2 or 3 Marsh Harriers, 3 Spotted Redshanks, 4 Greenshanks, 5 Whimbrel, 3 Barwits and a few Yellow Wags about.

Cliffe Pools - 07/09/2011

I made a quick trip to Cliffe on Wednesday. Not a huge amount about and I dipped the Spoonbill. But sitting up around the 1st Black Barn pool I found 7 Curlew Sands and 13 Ruff. Also a single Yellow Wag around the scrub at the water's edge.

Cliffe Pools 02/05/11

A very windy, but sunny trip to Cliffe today with some decent spring migrants and the usual species too:


Hobby - 2 East along the Thames then into the reserve by the grazing area to the eastern boundary.
Wheatear - 1 on the fence along the eadge of Coastguards.
Yellow Wagtail - 1 off the Thames on the path along the sea wall.
Greenshank - 8 on Coastguards and 2 others dotted about.
Dunlin - Huge flock (circa 200+) flew East down the Thames.
Barwits - 8 West down the Thames and 1 on Flamingo.
Blackwits - 3 on Flamingo.
Whimbrel - 2 on Flamingo.
Nightingale - only 1 heard.
Lesser Whitethroat - 2 heard.
Cettis - 3 heard.
Common Tern - steady trickle of 1s, 2s and 3s down the Thames.
Swift - 3 over the car park.