Dungeness Area - 28th July

My day started at ARC and the usual hour or so spent looking out from Hanson hide. The two Avocet chicks now well grown and soon to fledge (hopefully) are still present with their ever attentive parents. A Bittern flew over and landed in the far reedbed and a supporting cast of 2 Garganeys, Common Sandpipers, Little-ringed Plovers, 4 Cattle Egrets and 4 Great White Egret meant that the hour went by quickly. On wandering to the Pines another visitor had located a juvenile Cuckoo and there were probably 7 Cattle Egrets on the reserve yesterday.

On checking the Common Tern colony on Burrowes, I was pleased to record 7 surviving chicks, although this colony is becoming a gull snack shack. Hopefully, some tern chicks will be able to fledge. Also on Burrowes, 7 Common Gulls, 10 Common Sands, 2 Dunlin, 2 Wood Sandpipers, one of them being very confiding, 3 Greenshank, Little-ringed Plovers and my first adult Yellow-legged Gull of the autumn. Also good comparison views of juvenile Herring and Lesser-black Gulls. 

The Dipping Pond just beyond the Visitor Centre now has a surface layer of floating vegetation which has attracted Small Red-eyed Damselflies. 

Around midday I went to Kerton Pit and enjoyed watching the roosting Sandwich Terns, Black-headed Gulls and Mediterranean Gulls along with 4 Whimbrel and c.200 roosting Curlew with 320+ Oystercatcher and a juvenile still being fed by its parents. At least 143 Sandwich Terns along with a handful of Common Terns. I managed to read one of the ringed juvenile Sandwich Terns which led me to contact an old acquaintance from Hampshire, Peter Potts.

Small Red-eyed Damselfly

Juvenile Sandwich Tern number 258 from Lymington

Whimbrel at Kerton Pit

Sandwich Terns at Kerton Pit

Cattle Egrets

Preening!

Juvenile Cuckoo

Common Gulls

Wood Sandpiper

Juvenile Herring Gull

Juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gull

Adult Yellow-legged Gull

Whiskered Tern

A very light southerly wind with an almost calm sea but despite being mostly distant there were still a few birds going past offshore. A three hour watch included 11 Pomarine Skuas comprising flocks of two and nine and an incredible flock of 17 Cattle Egrets. 

Cattle Egrets

Cattle Egrets

Early afternoon I received a message at 14:07 from Craig Edwards, the RSPB Reserves Manager that a Whiskered Tern was on Dengemarsh viewed from Dengemarsh Hide. I called MC and then had to call him back as the bird had flown north. MC, RW and I started to check the various water bodies on the reserve and on checking New Excavations I re-found the tern sitting on a post. Unfortunately a Marsh Harrier caused it to take off and fly towards Burrowes Pit. Locals started to arrive at Makepeace Hide but there was no sign so the search began again until Jacob radioed that he had re-located it on ARC where most of the Locals managed to obtain views before at 15:53 it flew back towards the New Excavations/Dengemarsh area but despite searching could not be relocated until 18:51 when relocated on Hookers by GP.  

Whiskered Tern

Whiskered Tern

A few Grey Plovers across the reserve. These four making use of a new islands created at New Excavations.

Grey Plovers