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