7th Mar

Four Firecrests and five Chiffchaffs were the best on offer on the land but the sea was very quiet.

6th Mar

There were two Caspian Gulls and three Yellow-legged Gulls at the Patch this morning whilst the morning seawatch produced an Eider, two Red-breasted Mergansers, 91 Kittiwakes, seven Sandwich Terns and nearly 1400 auks.

Three Snipe, a Chiffchaff and a Firecrest were seen on the land.

Four Porpoises were feeding offshore. 

5th Mar

The Patch was back in action today and with it came the return of the Iceland Gull along with two first-winter Caspian Gulls, an adult Yellow-legged Gull and a second-winter Mediterranean Gull.

The sea was fairly quiet except for large numbers of Gannets and two Pintails moving east and a drake Eider passing west.

Two Porpoises were feeding offshore.

4th Mar

There were a handful of new birds on the land including a Mistle Thrush, four Rock Pipits, a Siskin, and best of all, a Wood Lark which was caught in the Heligoland trap this afternoon and only the sixth to be ringed.

Woodlark Lullula arborea   Dungeness   4th March 2021 

With slightly better visibility today there was also a bit of mainly easterly movement offshore with 570 Brent Geese, two Shoveler, 271 Red-throated Divers and a Great Northern Diver of note.

There was also noticeable increase in Porpoise numbers with at least ten feeding offshore along with a Grey Seal.

3rd Mar

Limited coverage again due to thick fog through the morning and Skype meetings. A Black Redstart was seen in the Moat, 20 Redwings in the Trapping Area and 100 Brent Geese east in the afternoon.

A flock of Brent Geese also flew over the Observatory at 0220hrs and picked up on the Audiomoth recorder.

2nd Mar

A dull, very murky morning limited observations but after things cleared a bit there was a small easterly movement of birds offshore with 17 Teal, 85 Shoveler, three Pintail and a Sandwich Tern of note. There was little sign of any migration on the land other than a single Chiffchaff at the Old Lighthouse garden. The Grey Wagtail remains inside the power station compound and spent much of the morning singing.

1st Mar

The best of a handful of new birds on the land was a singing Dartford Warbler in the gorse just south of the trapping area. A Woodcock, a Merlin, three Goldcrests, three Fieldfares and three Siskins were also new migrants. Two Firecrests were seen in the Trapping Area although they were probably the birds that have been present for some time.

A morning seawatch produced a surprising movement of Pintail with 237 passing east in a couple of hours although other species were barely represented with just two Shovelers, six Wigeon and a Mediterranean Gull of interest.

Two Porpoises were feeding offshore.

28th Feb

After being absent for a couple of days the Iceland Gull was back at the Patch again along with a first-winter Caspian Gull. The morning seawatch produced 38 Pintails, three Shovelers and two Teal of note. The Grey Wagtail was singing in the power station again.

27th Feb

A pretty quiet day despite the spring-like conditions. A handful of duck passed by offshore with two Pintail, three Shovelers and two Eiders of note and a Merlin came in. The first migrant Black Redstart of the spring was seen in the Moat.

26th Feb

A bright and sunny day after a cold and frosty start. There were a couple of sightings of Red Kite this morning and two Marsh Harriers were hunting over the Trapping Area. There was a hint of passerine movement this morning with 20 Redwings, four Song Thrushes, four Grey Wagtails and four Greenfinches of note.

A Common Seal was feeding offshore and a Pygmy Shrew and two Bank Voles were seen on the land.