Dungeness Birding

Weather

Overcast with occasional showers heavier in the late afternoon and evening. SE to ESE wind generally light 10 to 15kmph gusting to 27kmph.

I started the day by checking the top of the Long Pits and had 36 Chiffchaffs and six Blackcaps in a small area of willows just by the Power Station turn off with a foraging flock of Long-tailed Tits. Flocks of Swallows and Meadow Pipits were noticeable moving east and I had two calling Tree Pipits whilst walking down the north east side of the Pits. Martin posted that a huge hirundine movement was underway from the Fishing Boats so I decided to head in that direction, leaving my car at the top of the Long Pits. On the way down I recorded 257 Swallows and 82 Meadow Pipits plus 193 House Martins heading east bit this was peanuts compared to what was actually happening across the peninsula. When I arrived at the Fishing Boats Steve Gale and Martin had been counting since early morning and had already racked up over 100,000 birds heading east out to sea. I started to help with the count and it was totally incredible. There was a huge flock of hirundines over the Power Station, something like 3,000 to 4,000 birds and large flocks of mainly House Martins were crossing the Desert and heading out to sea forming a carpet of birds flying low across the water. Between 9:45 and 10:15 I recorded c.4,100 hirundines mostly House Martins with minute counts of 200-300 birds. Earlier that morning minute counts had been between 2,000-3,000 birds so the movement was slowing down. We stopped counting at 10:15 as Martin received a txt message from Dave Bunney something like 'URGENT, possible Bonelli's Warbler'. We packed up quickly with birds still moving but longer gaps in-between the flocks.

Standing outside Dave Bunney's garden the Western Bonelli's Warbler showed well sometimes calling and favouring the Scots Pine, Cyprus and Strawberry trees. It remained there for the rest of the day.

The RSPB Reserve was closed today due to staff shortages so later in the day, I used my bike and checked out Burrowes and ARC. On Burrowes I had 490 Lapwing, 1 first winter Caspian Gull, 191 Great Black-backed Gulls, 48 Lesser Black-bakced Gulls, 35 Wigeon, 500 Sand Martins and a single Pintail. On ARC, 42 Lapwing, 18 Redshank, a single Golden Plover, 13 Wigeon, five Pintail, two Snipe, a single Garganey and the Glossy Ibis.