Common Crane

During the Christmas period, the RSPB visitor centre has been closed and the staff have had over a week off. The RSPB relies heavily on its volunteers and a number of us have been patrolling the reserve during this period to help visitors and provide a visible presence. I have been on the reserve every day over the period of closure and have enjoyed helping visitors make the most of their time on the reserve. It does get frustrating though when those with dogs continue to ignore the signs and access areas where dogs are prohibited and also dump their dog poo bags in vegetation rather than dispose of them properly. Grump over, on with today's story.

I decided to walk the main trail in reverse and hadn't seen that much until I looked from the viewing ramp where six Barnacle Geese of likely feral origin were foraging on the grass sward at the back of Dengemarsh.

On entering Dengemarsh hide a quick scan of the roosting gulls revealed a first winter Caspian Gull at least that is what I thought. However, it has been pointed out to me subsequently that the bird pictured below is either a hybrid of some sort or a Herring Gull. The bird has a pale eye, something which a first winter Caspian Gull should not have, also the inner greater coverts look notched and it doesn't look long legged. The tertials don't look notched and have broad white edges with one having a pale grey centre. The outer greater coverts look dark centered and the head appears white with little streaking however, the harsh light conditions may likely bleach out any streaking. Trying to work out hybrid parentage is difficult and this bird is probably a Herring Gull but through bins I went with my first impression of 1w Caspian Gull (with a pale eye). 

The reserve was quite busy and initially I had the hide to myself as about 400 mostly Greylags arrived and settled on to the pit. As they flew in, I was sure I could here other geese, maybe White-fronts calling amongst them. These birds had probably been foraging on Lydd fields and had most likely been flushed. A scan of the Greylag flock initially revealed at least 29 White-fronts but other geese where hidden from view. 

The hide started to fill up with visitors and I was able to direct them on to what I thought was a Caspian Gull and the White-fronted Geese. Two groups, 21 and five, of White-fronts flew from the pit and there were still at least nine that remained.

I called a Marsh Harrier that was drifting in from Dengemarsh Road and following the reedbed as suddenly all hell broke loose as every bird on the pit took to the air. At first I thought the Marsh Harrier was the cause but on looking around I noticed a large broad winged bird gliding in from the south-east above Dengemarsh Road. My initial thoughts was that it might be a White Stork but on looking at it through bins I shouted out 'Crane' and gave directions to those in the hide. It started to drift and glide as it worked out where it wanted to go, soaring over the chicken sheds and then towards the MOD Ranges before turning and heading back towards Dengemarsh. Eventually it gained height and headed south-west over the MOD Ranges. Whilst the bird was in view, I managed to get a couple of messages out on the locals group despite suffering from fat fingers. 

I think this is the first area record of Crane since I moved here in July 2019.

As it continued to soar over the Dengemarsh area, the Barnacle Geese were still in a state of panic.

As the commotion died down, 28 White-fronts landed on the grass sward making 54 that had been within the earlier arriving Greylag flock, 11 of which are in the photo below.

I stopped off at Firth Lookout on the way back to the Visitor Centre car park and couldn't resist taking some photos of the juvenile Great Northern Diver that remains on Burrowes Pit.

Checking the gulls from Dennis's Hide there were three first winter Caspian Gulls and two adult Yellow-legged Gulls along with J5353 an adult Great Black-backed Gull that I also saw back on 12th December.

Martin and I then stayed until after sunset waiting to see if any Swans or Geese flew in to roost on Burrowes as James Hunter had recorded 16 Bewick's Swans flying on to Burrowes at 16:40 on the 29th. Tonight though none appeared but the sunset was spectacular.

Bitterns

An early afternoon visit to Hanson Hide on the RSPB Reserve led to a new birding experience of two Bitterns in view at the same time. A scan from the hide along an adjacent reedbed edge revealed a Bittern stood at the edge of the reeds seemingly warming itself up in the sunshine against the cold north-easterly gusty wind. What I didn't realise was that a second Bittern was also in the reeds just to the right of the one I was focused on. Bitterns are highly territorial and it looks to me like these two Bitterns were potentially having a bit of a tiff.

The Bittern on the edge of the reeds then lept in to the reed bed seemingly chasing the other Bittern.

There then appeared to be a Bittern face off which lasted for 15 minutes before the furthest Bittern disappeared deeper in to the reeds. For all of this time of about 30 minutes, I was the only person in the hide.

On the other side of the reserve there were two beautiful adult Bewick's Swans on Burrowes Pit.

Then of course there are the gulls on Burrowes Pit. Yellow-legged Gull first winter (centre), first winter Caspian Gulls (right) and lower left with Herring Gull and first winter Great Black-backed (rear).

Happy Christmas

A quick visit to the Dungeness RSPB reserve in a bitterly cold north-easterly wind. The juvenile Great Northern Diver was still present at the north end of Burrowes Pit, five Avocets were standing on one of the submerged islands and three Goldeneye were feeding. Initially not many gulls appeared to be amongst the masses of Cormorants but gradually more started to arrive to roost, preen and bathe.

Avocets photo bombing three roosting adult Yellow-legged Gulls

3CY Caspian Gull X5KT ringed as a chick in 2023 in Germany  

Three sleeping Caspian Gulls an adult (left) a small 1w (middle) and a giant 1w (right) 

Great Northern Diver

A cold north-easterly strong wind made didn't make me want to wander around the RSPB reserve that much, so my reserve patrol comprised sitting in Dennis's hide.

The juvenile Great Northern Dive initially found at Scotney and relocated to Burrowes Pit on the RSPB Reserve was still present today albeit in its favourite location at the north end of Burrowes. Back on the 22nd it did a swim past at Dennis's Hide affording good views.

An appearance of a flock of 20 Avocets at Burrowes was unexpected, I think it is the most seen on the reserve this year. They seemed to not really know what they wanted to do as they tried to settle on a submerged island before taking wing again and disappearing, only to reappear before settling on the choppy water and then taking to wing again and heading off.

The black plague of Cormorants is unfortunately smothering all the islands on Burrowes. There are so many that it puts me off even trying to find a Double-crested Cormorant, although a Pygmy Cormorant would stand out....maybe one day.

Despite the Cormorant army there were still plenty of Caspian and Yellow-legged Gulls to look through with at least 21 Caspian and eight Yellow-legged.

1.

Four Caspian Gulls (1, 2, 3, 4) and two Herring Gulls (5, 6)

2.

Caspian Gull 3CY. In photo1 above this bird shows a pale eye in the strong sunlight, in photo 2 the eye looks all dark.

In photos 1 and 2 the gull in the middle of this crop is bird no. 6 and I think it is a Herring Gull but I'm still checking that.

Yellow-legged Gull 2CY/3CY

December 8th

I'm not sure on the age of this bird but from the features I can see, I think it is a 2CY moving to a 3CY. 

Whilst showing pale yellow legs and medium grey upperparts, this 2CY/3CY year Yellow-legged Gull also shows solid black primaries with a small white mirror on P10. It has a clean white head and white tail. 

1.

2.

Extensive black patterning on primaries with only one white mirror. The pale tongues on P10 and P9 are short and do not extend more than half the length of the feather. Whilst no white tip appears to be on P8 there is one on P7 and P5 appears to have a complete black band.

3.

Contrasting blackish markings along the secondaries. The primaries have only short greyish or no tongues extending along these feathers on both the upperwing and underwing.

4.  

Pale eye

5.

Flying 2CY/3CY Yellow-legged Gull left, Adult Caspian Gull flying right 

6.

Flying 2CY/3CY Yellow-legged Gull left, Adult Caspian Gull flying right

Caspian Gull adult

In recent weeks there has been some great gull watching at Burrowes Pit on the RSPB Reserve and many great photos on Martins Blog PLODDINGBIRDER have incentivised a few visiting birders to start looking for Caspian and Yellow-legged Gulls. The recent totals of these two species (to date at Least 20 Caspian Gulls and nine Yellow-legged Gulls) mainly using Burrowes Pit, has given plenty of opportunities to try and identify various ages of Caspian and Yellow-legged Gull against the commoner species of Great and Lesser Black-backed and Herring Gulls.

I'm still a relative newcomer in respect of having the opportunity to sit and look through gulls and whilst many birders ignore gulls as too difficult, they are a fun and rewarding group on which to hone your identification skills. In this blog post and maybe a couple of other posts, i've tried  to provide a little bit of  information on identification features for Caspian and Yellow-legged Gull, mainly for my own benefit to understand if i'm getting it right or wrong along with a chance to compare and use the identification literature against my photos. So, if you want to, please feel free to comment on my id attempts and associated reasoning.

December 8th

In the shot below, there is an adult Caspian Gull which is just taking off and three Yellow-legged Gulls, a 3CY flying, a 2CY to the left of the adult Caspian Gull and an adult (third gull in from the right that is partially obscured). 

1.The adult Caspian Gull (before it took off), whilst showing the beady dark eye and lovely smallish pure white rounded head and long/pointed parallel billed head profile, has pale yellowish legs.

2.The yellowish looking legs confused me until I read much later that adults have pale yellow legs (in summer). Luckily other features to aid identification of adult Caspian Gull became more obvious when it flew. 

3.Primary 10 (P10) shows a long white tongue with very little black near the tip. Whilst this feather looks old, it is a typical adult feature. On the upperwing you can only just make out a narrow portion of the tongue but on the underwing, whilst still only a narrow section is visible you can see that it is long and whitish. There are also long white mirrors on P10 and P9, something which adult Yellow-legged Gulls don't show on P9. 

4.Another feature to support adult Caspian Gull is the presence of a tick mark on P4. In this photo the features on P10 and P9 are obscured. I reckon there is another possible feature in that the underwing is very pale with little contrast between the primaries, secondaries and underwing coverts. So, despite thinking this adult gull has dull yellow legs and pinkish feet, other features are good for supporting adult Caspian Gull. 

5.Adult Caspian Gull (left) and a 2CY Yellow-legged Gull (right)

Siberian Chiffchaff

A morning of very dull overcast conditions with driving rain and increasingly strong SW wind. However, I decided to venture to ARC at the RSPB reserve as it was likely that birds would be sheltering in the bay in front of Hanson hide whilst walking down the track leading to the hide from the car park I picked up a Colybitta Chiffchaff and then a second greyer looking Chiffchaff with very contrasting clean white underparts and noticeable green edges to wing and tail feathers. It looked to be of the ssp. Tristis and certainly had quite a bit more east in it than ssp. Abietinus, at least that is what I thought. It didn't call.

Chiffchaff likely eastern ssp. Tristis