An overcast day with a strong cold westerly wind throughout. Three seawatches totalling six hours during the day resulted in just over a thousand Brent Geese and low numbers of common seabirds. This morning's seawatch was slightly curtailed as the Seawatching Hide is being refurbished by local birder and builder Chris Philpot, It was great to see the progress during the day and look forward to trying it out very soon.
A search though the excellent numbers of gulls along the beach produced one Glaucous, one Iceland, three Caspian, two Yellow-legged and one Mediterranean Gull.
Few land migrants were observed with eleven Chiffchaffs and two Wheatears which were presumably birds already present rather than freshly arrived migrants.
Four Porpoise were feeding offshore.
At the RSPB Reserve one Long-eared Owl was roosting by the Dipping Pool, drake Ring-necked Duck and two Smew on Tanner's Pool plus the escaped drake Hooded Merganser was still present on Hooker's Pit.
A search though the excellent numbers of gulls along the beach produced one Glaucous, one Iceland, three Caspian, two Yellow-legged and one Mediterranean Gull.
Few land migrants were observed with eleven Chiffchaffs and two Wheatears which were presumably birds already present rather than freshly arrived migrants.
Seawatching Hide refurbishment Dungeness 18th March 2017 (Lee Gregory) |
Glaucous Gull Larus hyperboreus Dungeness 18th March 2017 (Lee Gregory) |
Iceland Gull Larus glaucoides Dungeness 18th March 2017 (Lee Gregory) |
Caspian Gull Larus cachinnans Dungeness 18th March 2017 (Lee Gregory) |
At the RSPB Reserve one Long-eared Owl was roosting by the Dipping Pool, drake Ring-necked Duck and two Smew on Tanner's Pool plus the escaped drake Hooded Merganser was still present on Hooker's Pit.