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.

In Between the Showers

Of the 3 Great White Egrets on ARC this afternoon, this one was getting too close to the well developed Avocet chicks.

Also on the RSPB Reserve, over 20 Common Sandpipers, Green and Wood Sandpipers. A few Whimbrel are also starting to appear on their return migration, this one on Burrowes Pit.

On ARC this drake Pochard has a beak tag which is so old that any remnant of an ID or colour has disappeared. We've recorded Pochard marked in this way before but have not been able to find any recent tagging operation to inform of the controls.

Nesting Ringed Plover Update

The nesting Ringed Plover was still sitting today, hopefully on remaining undamaged eggs.
5th July update - The Ringed Plover pair had abandoned their nesting attempt.

The four Avocet chicks are still alive and being well looked after by the adult birds.

Two chicks receiving protection from the rain

Drying off

Waders continue to visit ARC, this adult Dunlin was one of three individuals that has now increased to six.

Little Ringed Plovers have bred at ARC without us knowing. Three juveniles and one adult remain on the islands frequently getting chased by the Ringed Plovers.

The female Red-crested Pochard and remaining duckling can sometimes prove elusive to see at ARC but in the last few days have been recorded daily.

Lesser Emperor dragonflies are now also being recorded at ARC, Long Pits and at the Point.

Juvenile Bearded Tits also continue to be seen well from Hanson Hide.

Amongst the migrating waders, a moulting male Ruff

Avocet chicks at last

At ARC it has been possible to watch five pairs of nesting Avocets amongst the islands. This is a great increase from 2024 when there were 3 nesting pairs on ARC up to the 21st June when on the 22nd this went down to only one pair which successfully fledged one young on 20th August from three chicks. Today the 26th June the first three Avocet chicks have hatched to one pair and the other four pairs remain nesting all with sitting birds.

Avocet pair with three eggs

One of the three newly hatched Avocet chicks at ARC

The female Avocet was still removing egg shells from the nest location when I watched likely meaning that the chicks could only have been hours old. What a treat.

It is still proving tricky to work out what the Common Terns are up to at ARC. I think that there are still at least 15 nesting pairs in the colony but over the past few days their behaviour has been strange. At times for no apparent reason that I can understand all the terns suddenly lift into the air and fly away from the colony area only to return after a few seconds. Whether the strong winds are causing them to spook easily as I cannot see any predators overhead, I just don't know and I wonder if we will get any chicks from this colony? Still, it does allow me to count them and this morning I had 52 in the air together. Elsewhere on the reserve there are at least four sitting common terns on Burrowes and another three sitting birds at Dengemarsh with seven to eight chicks with a couple of them near to fledging.

I wondered what this Common Tern had caught and it looks like a young Pike

Common Tern chicks at Dengemarsh

Common Tern chicks at Dengemarsh

Adult waders are starting to turn up on the reserve in low numbers, with Green, Wood and Common Sandpipers, Bar and Black-tailed Godwits and Grey Plovers.

Adult Black-tailed Godwit

Common Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper

This adult Redshank is one that has successfully fledged one chick at ARC

Juvenile Redshank

A flock of six Mediterranean Gulls dropped in to ARC on the 25th June. One of them was ringed with a Yellow Darvic ATSS, and is likely to originate from Germany. 

Mediterranean Gull ATSS giving the hard stare to a 1st Summer Little Gull at ARC

Black-winged Stilt

Early morning excitement and anticipation with a productive and varied sea watch including a good movement of Common Scoter. A Surf Scoter was amongst a Common Scoter flock heading east off Beachy Head at 06:51, an hour later it was passing the Point and was seen by a few of the locals and visiting birders as it sped past moving position within the Common Scoter flock. As the sea watch started to slow down, a nice find by Gary Johnson of a female Black-winged Stilt at RSPB Dungeness on Hayfield 1 early morning caused most remaining birders to depart and head to the reserve. 

The late afternoon light was great for getting some photos with the Stilt close to the western fence of the Hayfield.

Female Black-winged Stilt

Female Black-winged Stilt

Sedge Warblers are established across the reserve, a small number now singing from exposed perches.

Sedge Warbler

Also on Hayfield 1 an Avocet joined the Stilt and a pair of Little Ringed Plovers.

Avocet

Little Ringed Plover

Ravens breed locally but it is not often that you get a chance to see one up close. Martin gave me a call on the radio as one had been bathing and was drying off near the Hayfields.

Raven

A couple of pairs of Redshank are favouring the shingle islands in front of Xmas Dell and looking very smart in their breeding plumage.

Redshank

Three Grey Plovers were roosting on the islands along with a single Redshank.

Grey Plovers

Redwings 24th and 25th March

The 24th March was overcast and damp. Hundreds of Redwings and a few Fieldfares had descended in to the Desert and the top of the Long Pits. They were incredibly hard to see even though many were singing and they would not allow a close approach. Somehow they knew you were there and went quiet as one.

Redwings in the Desert

Wandering down to the Point from the top of the Long Pits, I was picking up new arrivals with the odd Goldcrest and a few Chiffchaffs, along with a single Firecrest. In the following photo sequence, i've tried to provide similar comparison postures of Chiffchaff and Iberian Chiffchaff from the 22nd March. 

Chiffchaff

Iberian Chiffchaff from 22nd March

Chiffchaff

Iberian Chiffchaff from the 22nd March

Chiffchaff

Iberian Chiffchaff from 22nd March

Goldcrest

Heading on to the RSPB Reserve there were a couple of Avocets on Burrowes and a female Long-tailed Duck which I couldn't find today. The Long-tailed Duck is likely to be the one from Lade and before that from New Diggings, it was last seen on New Diggings on 7th March, then Lade on 13th-14th March and Burrowes on the 17th. As of the 25th there are at least six Goldeneye still present on Burrowes.

Avocet

Female Long-tailed Duck and Drake Goldeneye

Gulls are still making use of the new islands infront of Xmas Dell and Dengemarsh hides. This very large and long billed 2CY Caspian Gull was in from of Dengemarsh hide.

2CY Caspian Gull

2CY Caspian Gull

Pairs of Common Gulls were interested in the islands, hopefully they might breed.

Common Gulls

On the 25th March, the Point was cloaked in a low hazy mist and early messages from Jacob indicated that once again Redwings were in the area along with a Hawfinch. However, the mist layer quickly burnt off and the skies were clear and blue and I could only hear the odd Siskin calling as I walked to the Point and Desert from the top of the Long Pits. My walk recorded a dearth of migrants with only the local Robins and singing Chiffchaffs. A look at the sea was equally disappointing but on walking back to the Bird Observatory there were a couple of Black Redstarts feeding including a stunning male that had been ringed, presumably by the Obs team.

Male Black Redstart

Male Black Redstart 

Male Black Redstart

I headed back home for breakfast and a message on another Kent Whatsapp group stated that a Hoopoe had been seen at Kerton Pit. So it was back out and on arriving at Kerton Road I could a few of the other locals looking for the Hoopoe. In the end we couldn't relocate it but did have a Woodcock and a 2CY Caspian Gull. 

2CY Caspian Gull Kerton Pit