A great weather forecast and news that the Bewicks and Whoopers were still in the area. Add in reported Glossy Ibis, Cattle Egret and all the Dunge regulars and I was on my way down to Kent on Thursday, I arrived at the site of the Bewick Swans as the sun rose all was going well except no Swans, not a good start😢!!! At least the Sun rose magnificently.
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| Sunrise! |
Swanless I decided to head for the reserve, with the wind predicted to pick up I decided to save the sea for later. I parked at the arc pit a Buzzard flew over serenely as I was getting out of the car!
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| Buzzard |
The hide had very little in front of it, mostly Gadwall, Coots, Mute Swans and Tufties, I'd left the Scope in the car so didn't linger, I walked the entrance track to Hookers Ramp, with a little diversion behind Dengemarsh, was a beautiful morning, lots of Lapwings, Coots, Wigeon, Feral Geese, a Great White Egret flew about and a Marsh Harrier and a Buzzard had a bit of of a rumble about perching rights on the best tree! Probably the best of it though was the booming of the Bitterns, not full on yet, but such a weird sound, was an aural treat all round with Water Rails squealing and Cetti's explosive song coming from various spots in the Reedbed, in the warm sunshine despite the chill definitely felt that Spring is on the way!
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| Mute Swan |
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| Gadwall |
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| Marsh Harrier, homing in on the Buzzard |
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| Gets rid of the Buzzard and the Magpies move in!!! Typical! |
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| Great White Egret |
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| Common Buzzard |
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| Great White Egret |
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| Great views of a Great Crested Grebe in flights! |
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| Great White Egret |
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| Mute Swan |
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| Egyptian Goose |
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| Stonechat |
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| Marsh Harrier |
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| Great Crested Grebe (more traditional view) |
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| View over the marsh it really is a beautiful place! |
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| Marsh Harrier |
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| Lapwing |
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| Golden plover |
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| Great White Egret |
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| Kestrel |
A very enjoyable stroll, but no Glossy Ibis or Cattle Egrets despite plenty of scanning of the wide open spaces!! Oh well can't win em all, time to hit the sea!!
I arrived at the point, were a couple of guys in the hide, but the weather was so nice I decided to stay outside, was a bit of a chilly breeze but my winter gear keeps me nice and warm! I had just set up me scope when a large flock of Brent Geese went through, good start, wasn't a bad Seawatch lots of Gannets, Red-throated Divers, a few Auks, mostly Guillemots but picked out a couple of Razorbills, a couple of Fulmars, so not much variety but birds coming through regularly kept things interesting!!
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| Brent Geese |
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| Red-throated Diver |
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| Gannets |
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| Great Crested Grebe |
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| RT Divers going past "the buoy" |
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| Classic head down pose of the Red-throated Diver |
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| 2nd CY Gannet |
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| Gannets & Divers |
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| Guillemot |
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| Black-headed Gull about the only birds that came close enough for reasonable pics |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Gannets |
Sorry about the picture quality, light was terrible and birds were distant but think we got a gist of what the watch was like! As I was leaving, a guy came out of the hide as we walked to the car, after exchanging pleasantries, I got pinpoint directions to the Cattle Egrets and Bewick Swans which was handy! Think the guy's name was Martin so in the highly unlikely event he reads this, mucho thanks for that!!
I decided to have a walk around the reserve before heading for the Swans and Egrets, it was a fairly quiet circuit, surprise at the start, the Firth Hide and the other two hides on Burrows Pit completely gone!! They have turned them into viewpoints, two of which have no screens, a bit strange considering the signs all around telling people to stay below the banks at the risk of disturbing the birds!! Maybe work in progress who knows! Bit quiet on the circuit, the Hayfields had a couple of Ringed Plovers and a few Curlews and a Chiffchaff was on some dead brush. But the highlight was a nice male Marsh Harrier which put on a good show!
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| House Sparrow on the feeders, the feeders were quite busy with several each of Blue and Great Tits, Greenfinch, Chaffinch and a Reed Bunting, no sign of any Tree Sparrows either here or at the farmhouse. |
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| Curlew |
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| Ringed Plover |
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Marsh Harrier distant at first |
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| Getting Closer |
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| Think this is a Common Snipe were a couple flew through together! |
I reached Hookers again had a seat and enjoyed the view, lovely in the sunshine, more Booming from the Bitterns, very pleasant all on my own in the lovely sunshine! Then right in front of me a couple of Great Crested Grebes started their courtship dance!
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| Think these are probably Lapwing |
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| Great Crested Grebe, having a dance |
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| Marsh Harrier turned up again |
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| Gadwall |
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| Female Gadwall |
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| Reed Bunting |
So, decided to follow the instructions given earlier, the Cattle Egrets were exactly where foretold and I didn't even have to get out of the car to get the pics!
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| Cattle Egret |
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| Little Egret |
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| Strutting it's stuff! |
Then on to the Swan location, ironically about 200yards away from where I'd been at first light! How I missed em I don't know!!? I was expecting them to be quite distant, so was pleasantly surprised how close they were!
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| Bewick Swans |
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| The Whoopers were just around the corner, but more distant, handy to have a Mute Swan with em to give a size comparison, although you can see the more extensive Yellow on the bill as compared to the Bewicks |
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| Bewick have a conflab with some Gulls |
With the day still youngish, I headed to Camber to have a look for the long staying Scaup, found it easily enough but it stubbornly stayed at the back of the pool, there were loads of Curlew around the pond, I had a high count of 71. Also another pair of dancing Grebes here as well, though they to stayed distant!
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| Distant Scaup |
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| Curlew |
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| Dancing Grebes |
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| About the closest it came |
On a roll, I headed to Pett Levels to find the Red-breasted Geese that have been knocking about, with the day I'd had, I expected to stroll up and have the birds strutting around the place, but sadly no😢 can't win em all, still more cracking views of Marsh Harriers, good views of Pochard on the Pools and best of all great views of Med Gulls flying close to the car!
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| Pochard |
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| Marsh Harrier |
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| Pochard |
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| Coot, extremely numerous both at Pett and Dunge hundreds of them! |
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| Med Gull |
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| Common Gull |
I scoured the area for ages but no sign of the Geese, but like the lack of Bearded Tits and Glossy Ibis, a small blip in what was an excellent days birding 12 hours door to door, Dungeness always seems to deliver a great birding experience if you put the effort in!
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