Plenty of good birds

A day of light rain showers until at least late afternoon was a very welcome experience after months of hot dry weather. I started the day off at the top of the Long Pits and it was mostly quiet until I came across a couple of foraging tit flocks amongst which were several Willow Warblers and Lesser Whitethroats but only 16 of each, also 10 Swifts SE over.  I then moved on to Hanson hide, where Martin and Colin had earlier seen a couple of Wood Sands and Green Sands. One of the Wood Sands was close.

Wood Sandpiper

In addition to Martins sighting there were five Garganey in front of the hide.

Garganey

Several Snipe were visible from Hanson, the VC and Firth Lookout.

Snipe

The Pintard (hybrid Pochard x Pintail) was feeding.

Pintard

Whilst watching the Common Tern colony from Firth, an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull predated one of the tern chicks. I wanted to know how many chicks there were as I knew of at least two other predation events by gulls on the colony, so I stomped to the back of Burrowes and was able to get a better view of the colony.

I counted at least 12 chicks, one of which was a week old and the others mainly three weeks old. When I returned to Firth I could see another four chicks from that side, so a total of at least 16 chicks. Lets hope some survive the gull onslaught! There are six chicks in this photo and what looks like a dead Sand Martin on the shingle to the right of the standing adult Common Tern.

Both Black Terns and the White-winged Black Tern were still showing from Firth.

Black Tern

Black and White-winged Black Terns

White-winged Black Tern

Three Bar-tailed Godwits appeared on the mud in front of Firth along with over 30 Dunlin and Ringed Plovers.

Bar-tailed Godwits

Mostly adult Dunlin, I think there is one juvenile in the shot, Ringed and Little-ringed Plover.

Dungeness - July

 So far behind in processing my photos. Selection of July highlights. 

Curlew Sandpiper

Female Red-crested Pochard

Lesser Emperor

Bittern

Green Sandpiper

Black Tern

Eclipse Drake Garganey

Eclipse Duck Garganey

Likely radio-active material from on-going power station de-commissioning. Maybe on its way to Sellafield?

Bar-headed Goose - this was a five goose species morning from Hanson - far too many in my opinion

Male Ruff

Sandwich Tern family

Hobby

Little-ringed Plover

In Lightroom there is a feature called 'assisted culling'. I haven't used it on this photo but i'd like to on these Canada Geese stomping all through the Common Tern colony!

Six of the 11 Wigeon that appeared on Burrowes on 14th July

Common Tern

I reckon this female Marsh Harrier must be a mature lady given the large pale areas on her forewings

A flock of 21 White Storks drifted over the RSPB reserve on the 31st.

Black-tailed Godwit

A flock of seven Black-tailed Godwits of the Icelandic race were at ARC for most of the day before a  released helium balloon floated across the pit and spooked the duck and godwits leaving the area in front of Hanson hide relatively devoid of birds. I don't understand why people litter the point with these damn balloons that are so dangerous to wildlife, especially marine life. Whenever I venture out in to the desert, i'm always finding the bloody things littering the area and I collect them and dispose of them.

Recently Red-eyed Damselfly has been in front of Hanson hide.

Broods of duck continue to appear on ARC. Tufted with eight ducklings and Gadwall with seven.

The Caspian Tern continues to sleep and rest on Burrowes in between short foraging trips to Dengemarsh. I could hear it calling this evening.

There is the usual late colony of breeding Common Terns establishing on Burrowes. At least 39 Common Terns this evening with potentially 10 sitting birds.

Terns and Waders

The islands at the Firth viewpoint at Dungeness RSPB reserve have been attracting flocks of Common and Sandwich Terns including several juvenile and 2CY birds.

Juvenile Sandwich Tern

These days i'm on the lookout for ringed birds and came across two ringed Common Terns both of which originated from different ringing schemes in Holland.

Yellow ringed, Adult Common Tern from Holland

White tagged, Adult Common Tern from Holland

Finally the last 3 juvenile Common Terns that were on the small island in front of Dennis's hide have fledged. The smallest of them is very cute and barely has any primaries compared to the other two. I expect the short flight from the nesting island to the Firth lookout was a major leap of faith for it.

Despite the increase in the numbers of islands appearing across the reserve due to the lack of rain, the number and diversity of waders has been relatively low, which is odd given the numbers of shorebirds being recorded at Lade Bay. However, perseverance and multiple visits to the reserve during the days and weeks eventually pays off.

Juvenile Spotted Redshank

Juvenile Spotted Redshanks

Four Knot and a Dunlin

Golden Plovers

Ringed Plovers

Male and female juvenile Ruff

Black-tailed Godwits

Black-tailed Godwits

Adult and juvenile Little Stints

Juvenile Sanderling