Tricky to see Snipe

Female Smew still on ARC, female Long-tailed Duck still on New Diggings and female Scaup still at the Sussex end of Scotney, plus the two White-fronted Goose still with Greylags at Dengemarsh.

There are at least eight Snipe in this photo. I've had up to 11 resting in the grass brash near Cooks Pool, always tricky to know if you've found them all even with a scope.

Wigeon flying in to Cooks Pool after being spooked by a Marsh Harrier.

Little Owl at Lydd, shortly after I took this shot it flew off.

Ringed Plover

A wander around part of the reserve recorded the female Smew still on ARC and the Long-tailed Duck still on New Diggings. Waders are starting to pair up with noisy Oystercatcher pairs on ARC, Burrowes and New Excavations and also a pair of Ringed Plovers on the shingle, certainly the right habitat for them to potentially nest.

Ringed Plover

Ringed Plover

Ringed Plover

Snipe and Jack Snipe

 Most of the day spent at the RSPB Dungeness reserve with my thermal camera looking for Snipe and Jack Snipe with Martin. In the end we located 23 Snipe and 2 Jack Snipe. Without the aid of the thermal camera we almost certainly would not have located the Jack Snipe and if we had then we would have flushed them. It felt really good to get excellent views of them both and just leave them in peace afterwards. It's much harder to do the same with Snipe which despite having excellent camouflage, insist on flying off before you get anywhere near them.

A Jack Snipe is in this photo

A Jack Snipe is in this photo

At the Return Trail, 11 Great Crested Newts were under the felts.

Great Crested Newt

Three Good Ducks and a Diver

On the 22nd February, Brenda found a female Scaup on the Sussex side of Scotney at the double bends and I managed to see it today the 23rd.

Scaup female asleep with two Pochard

Scaup female

Scaup female

Scaup female

On the Dungeness RSPB reserve the female Smew remained on ARC and the Long-tailed Duck remained on New Diggings. On Burrowes this 'Scaup type' female Tufted Duck has recently been causing some visitors to think they might have seen a Scaup on the reserve.

'Scaup type' Tufted Duck female

'Scaup type' Tufted Duck female

'Scaup type' Tufted Duck female

Due to the overnight rain and temperatures in excess of 10°C, large numbers of Smooth Newts were starting to make their way to the complex of ponds to the west of the track between the ARC Screen and the level crossing at the Affinity Water Works. You had to be careful not to tread on them and I must have moved over 30 from the track to, hopefully a safer location.

Smooth Newt

The Great Northern Diver that was seen yesterday on Burrowes had remained being seen, albeit distantly, from the replacement Makepeace hide. With big gaps between sightings this year, it makes you wonder how many have been recorded on the reserve.

Great Northern Diver

Great Northern Diver

Drake Pochard are scattered across the reserve and looked great in the early morning sunshine at ARC.

Pochard

Pintail Record

A brilliant February sea watch today with a packed hide early morning in anticipation of something happening on the strong south/south east wind. A total of 7:45 hours of watching was completed with the highlight of the day being a movement of Pintail with 994E and breaking the previous Dungeness day record of 860. The supporting cast of birds included some oddities including a flock of 28E Greylag goose and 13W Stock Doves both groups originally coming in from the south east. 

Pintail

Pintail

Pintail

Pintail

There was also a reasonable movement of Dark-bellied Brent Goose with 2,283E being recorded.

Dark-bellied Brent Goose

Dark-bellied Brent Goose in the glare

Adult Mediterranean Gulls starting to moult in to summer plumage were also going past, with 60 recorded.

Five Mediterranean Gulls, part of a passing flock of nine.

Smew

The highlight of the month so far has been the female Smew found by Alan Parker and Peter on 12th Feb at Dengemarsh.

Female Smew

It preferred to presumably forage within the reed edge out of sight and occasionally appeared in open water but never for very long. It remained on Dengemarsh until 14th Feb.

On the 17th Feb, I was doing the WeBS count at ARC for the RSPB and found it (presumably the same bird) there and it was much closer.

Female Smew

On the 13th Feb 19 White-fronted Goose were in Boulderwall Fields or in the adjacent Lydd Fields.

White-fronted Goose

Richard picked out J16EY a Great Black-backed Gull in its 3rd calendar year. According to my records it was last recorded in the Dungeness area on 14th Sep 2024.

Great Black-backed Gull

In recent days a couple of Ringed Plovers have been on Hayfield 1 and 2, hopefully the new shingle islands that have been created across the RSPB Reserve will tempt them to nest.

Ringed Plover

Weather in recent days has been cold with a south-east wind but sunny and bright. The wind was creating havoc with the Tufted Ducks, giving them a very bad hair day as they slept in front of Dengemarsh hide.

 

Tufted Duck

After being absent from the 12th, the Long-tailed Duck re-appeared on New Diggings on the 16th Feb.

Female Long-tailed Duck

Coldharbour Lane, Walland

 A visit to Coldharbour Lane on Walland Marsh this morning resulted in three species of raptor making an appearance as I was watching the flock of 48 Bewick's Swan that only includes a single juvenile bird. Initially the Bewick's flock were a little distant but gradually started to fly on to a flooded area within the same field. Those on the flooded area started to call and trumpet which is just one of those incredible natural sounds.

The flock of 48 Bewick's Swans

Bewick's Swans

Bewick's Swans

As I was watching the swans I picked up a male hen harrier quartering a ditch beyond them. Despite taking a number of photos, they were all badly out of focus, with this one the best out of a bad lot. The harrier continued to hunt up and down the various ditches but never got remotely near me despite my efforts of chasing after it in the car and trying to anticipate where it might get closer.

Hen Harrier male

Back at the swans, a kestrel had perched up near to the road and seemed very interested in some sound or movement just below it.

Kestrel female

The flock of Black-headed gulls that were roosting on the flooded field suddenly all got airborne and moved away. On scanning the skies for a possible raptor, I picked up two Peregrine Falcons coming down one of which then just flew round and round in small circles with a Black-headed Gull like they were both having a game! The two Peregrines then landed in the field and remained there.

Peregrine Falcon 

Peregrine Falcon

Peregrine Falcon