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Local weather

Update

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26th Aug

Seawatching improved a bit today with over 6.5 hours of coverage producing 602 Sandwich Terns, a Black Tern, four Arctic Skuas, singles of Sooty and Manx Shearwaters and three Balearic Shearwaters. An Osprey and 400 Sand Martins were of note on the land. 

Two Porpoises and a Grey Seal were seen offshore.

A night walk for rare orthopters proved very successful with 31 male Large Coneheads heard singing in the Trapping Area along with 12 Sickle-bearing Bush-crickets and hundreds of Tree Crickets.

A Lesser Emperor was seen in the Trapping Area during the afternoon

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25th Aug

More windy weather which failed to produce very much on the sea with just a Grey Plover, 348 Sandwich Terns and an Arctic Skua of any note. A small arrival of migrants on the land included 50 Willow Warblers, an early Goldcrest and three Whinchats.

The Pectoral Sandpiper was seen at the Scotney Sand Pit.

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24th Aug

A Little Gull, eight Mediterranean Gulls, an Arctic Skua and a Balearic Shearwater were the highlights of a very quiet sea. Nothing of note on the land.

Elsewhere, the Pectoral Sandpiper reappeared at the Scotney Sand Pit.

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23rd Aug

Seawatching through the day produced two Sooty Shearwaters, 28 Manx Shearwaters and 25 Balearic Shearwaters. A Garden Warbler in the trapping area was the only bird of note in the bushes. An Osprey spent some time hunting over the Long Pits. 

Two Porpoises and singles of Common Seal and Grey Seal were feeding offshore.

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22nd Aug

After a slow start the seawatching picked up considerably during the late morning and afternoon with large numbers of shearwaters moving through. The clear highlights were four Sooties, 73 Balearics and 18 Manxies but many were very distant and 174 birds remained unidentified. Other notable totals were 430 Sandwich Terns and 505 Common Terns along with singles of Black Little and Arctic Tern and four Arctic Skuas.

Four Porpoises and a Grey Seal were feeding offshore.

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21st Aug

Very few migrants on the ground again with just 15 Willow Warblers, a Whinchat and eight Tree Sparrows of interest. A Buzzard and a Grey Wagtail flew over.

Two Porpoises were feeding offshore and a Brown Hare was seen on the land.

A Large Conehead was seen in the Trapping Area.

Elsewhere, the adult Pectoral Sandpiper was showing at the the Scotney Sandpit again along with a three Little Stints, two Curlew Sandpipers, three Ruffs, two Greenshanks and four Wood Sandpipers. Cattle Egrets increased to 14 birds on the RSPB Reserve where a Glossy Ibis was also seen..






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20th Aug

Very quiet with just a brief staying juvenile Caspian Gull and a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull at the Patch of any note.

Elsewhere, the adult Pectoral Sandpiper was showing at the the Scotney Sandpit again along with a Temminck's Stint, two Little Stints and four Wood Sandpipers.

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19th Aug

Grounded migrants included a Great Spotted Woodpecker, 25 Willow Warblers, a Spotted Flycatcher and 11 Wheatears while a Swift, a Tree Sparrow, 28 Yellow Wagtails and singles of Grey Wagtail and Tree Pipit passed overhead. The sea was very quiet again with just four Grey Plovers passing through and a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull at the fishing boats.

Four Porpoises were feeding offshore.

An outstanding total of at least 35 Wasp Spiders were found in front of the Observatory.

A Southern Migrant (Blue-eyed) Hawker was seen at Southview Cottage.

Elsewhere, the adult Pectoral Sandpiper was showing at the the Scotney Sandpit again along with a Temminck's Stint, five Little Stints, a Curlew Sandpiper and three Wood Sandpipers. Six Cattle Egrets were seen on the RSPB Reserve.

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18th Aug

 A party of three Turtle Doves and 80 Willow Warblers were the only migrants of any significance.

Another Gypsy Moth was caught overnight.

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17th Aug

Another small arrival of migrants this morning with 50 Willow Warblers and singles of Garden Warbler and Spotted Flycatcher and eight Yellow Wagtails.

Only one Porpoise was seen offshore.

The best from the moth traps was the tortrix Celypha rufana. 

Celypha rufana   Dungeness   17th August 2024.

Elsewhere, a Pectoral Sandpiper and a Temminck's Stint were found at the Scotney Sandpit.


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16th Aug

A quieter morning with just 20 Willow Warblers, two Spotted Flycatchers and a Tree Pipit on the land while the sea produced just six Mediterranean Gulls and a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull. The White Stork also had a good fly round and spent some time in Observatory airspace.

Three Porpoise and two Grey Seals were feeding offshore. In the evening Soprano and Common Pipistrelles were flying over the trapping area.

Numbers of moths in the traps remain very low but the oddities continues to appear with a Convolvulus Hawk-moth and a Palpita vitrealis of note this time.


Convolvulus Hawkmoth Agrius convolvuli   Dungeness   16th August 2024


A Southern Hawker dragonfly at the Long Pits was of great note.

Another evening search for crickets produced five Large Coneheads, 22 Sickle-bearing Bush-crickets, two Southern Oak Bush-crickets and a nymph Mediterranean Stick-insect.


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15th Aug

There was another reasonable arrival of migrants this morning with 50 Willow Warblers and highlights of singles of Spotted and Pied Flycatcher. The sea was pretty quiet with several hours of watching eventually producing a Redshank, an adult Little Gull, two Mediterranean Gulls, a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull and a Balearic Shearwater.

Eight Porpoises and a Grey Seal were seen offshore.

Another Gypsy Moth was the highlight from yet another very low catch of moths. 

Gypsy Moth Limantria dispar   Dungeness   15th August 2024 

A Southern Oak Bush-cricket was seen in the Observatory garden.

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14th Aug

There was a decent arrival of migrants this morning with a Nightingale and a Tree Pipit being the highlights of the ringing session while numbers were provided by 60 Willow Warblers. A White Stork flew over the area before settling on the RSPB Reserve for the rest of the day. In addition, a Raven, 42 Sand Martins and 11 Yellow Wagtails flew over. A Grey Plover and 11 Mediterranean Gulls were the best on offer offshore.

Nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos   Dungeness   14th August 2024


Tree Pipit Anthus trivalis   Dungeness   14th August 2024

Three Porpoises were feeding offshore.

Another Cydia amplana was caught overnight.

The first nocturnal search for the scarce orthoptera in the area produced seven singing Large Coneheads, an excellent total of 27 Sickle-bearing Bush-crickets and 100's of Tree Crickets.



Sickle-bearing Bush-crickets Phaneroptera falcata   Dungeness   14th August 2024


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13th Aug

Two Common Sandpipers, four Ravens overhead and 27 Willow Warblers were the only birds of note.

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12th Aug

A much quieter morning on the land with just 20 Willow Warblers and seven Wheatears of interest while birds passing overhead included a Little Ringed Plover, five Dunlin, a Common Sandpiper, a Redshank, 70 Sand Martins, a Tree Sparrow, 12 Yellow Wagtails and five Tree Pipits. The sea was very quiet with just 12 Teal and three Tufted Ducks flying west and four Mediterranean Gulls feeding offshore.

Six Porpoises and a Grey Seal were feeding offshore.

A search for the rarer orthoptera in the area produced three adult Sickle-bearing Bush-crickets, a late-stage nymph Large Conehead and plenty of Tree Crickets.


Large Conehead Ruspolia nitidula   nymph   Dungeness   12th August 2024


Sickle-bearing Bush-cricket Phaneroptera falcata   male   Dungeness   12th August 2024

Two Lesser Emperor dragonflies were seen at the Long Pits.

Four Brown Argus butterflies were seen.

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11th Aug

There was another decent arrival of migrants in the bushes with 75 Willow Warblers and ten Lesser Whitethroats of note along with five Ringed Plovers, two Dunlin, a Whimbrel, 50 Sand Martins, our first Tree Pipit and Tree Sparrow of the autumn and ten Yellow Wagtails overhead. The sea was very quiet with just three Mediterranean Gulls and a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull at the Patch of interest. 

The tortrix Cydia amplana and a Four-spotted Footman (the fourth Observatory record) were the highlights of an otherwise poor night in the moth traps.

Cydia amplana   Dungeness   11th August 2024

Four-spotted Footman Lithosia quadra   male   Dungeness   11th August 2024



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10th Aug

There was a small arrival of migrants this morning with a Great Spotted Woodpecker and 50 Willow Warblers of note. A Greenshank, two Wood Sandpipers and 18 Yellow Wagtails passed overhead.

Given the overnight conditions the moth traps were relatively quiet again but remarkably they did produce our second record of the very rare migrant Many-lined. Thanks to Matthew Deans and Sean Clancy for correcting my initial identification. 

Many-lined Costaconvexa polygrammata   Dungeness   10th August 2024


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9th Aug

A Heron, a Buzzard and 13 Sand Martins flew through and 20 Willow Warblers were scattered across the Point.

Our sixth record of Gypsy Moth was the highlight of an otherwise very poor moth night.

A Common Frog was found in the Observatory garden - a relatively uncommon amphibian in the area.


Gypsy Moth Lymantria dispar   Dungeness   9th August 2024


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8th Aug

Very quiet with just a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull offshore and 28 Willow Warblers and the first Redstart of the autumn of interest on the land.

Four Porpoises were feeding offshore.

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7th Aug

Two Great White Egrets flew west offshore this morning along  with 17 Mediterranean Gulls. A juvenile Caspian Gull also flew by and was later seen amongst the throng of gulls at the Patch. 

Caspian Gull Larus cachinnnans   juvenile   Dungeness   7th August 2024 (by Tom Wright).

A Great Spotted Woodpecker and 25 Willow Warblers were of note.

Three Porpoises and a Grey Seal were seen offshore but the highlight of the day was a pod of three White-beaked Dolphins which spent ten minutes or so feeding offshore.


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6th Aug

There was another small arrival of Willow Warblers this morning and centred mainly around the Long Pits and six Swifts and 105 Sand Martins passed through. Two Whimbrel flew west and two Mediterranean Gulls were feeding offshore.


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5th Aug

A Wigeon, five Mediterranean Gulls, a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull and an Arctic Skua were seen offshore and 260 Sand Martins passed through.

Eight Porpoises and two Grey Seals were feeding offshore.

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4th Aug

There was a reasonable arrival of 40 Willow Warblers this morning but mostly around the Long Pits were a Kingfisher was also recorded and 20 Sand Martins flew over.


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3rd Aug

Two Dunlins and 87 Mediterranean Gulls flew east this morning and two juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls were feeding offshore.

A very small arrival of migrants on the land included 12 Willow Warblers.

Two Porpoises were feeding offshore.

A totally unexpected catch in the moth traps this morning was this Dentated Pug which appears to be a new species for the area.

Dentated Pug Anticollix sparsata   Dungeness   3rd August 2024




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2nd Aug

Increasing fog during the morning limited observations although a one-hour seawatch produced 87 Mediterranean Gulls moving east. When the fog finally cleared a Honey Buzzard was seen flying north over the area.

Five Porpoises and two Grey Seals were feeding offshore.

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1st Aug

Very quiet on the land with just a Buzzard and a Yellow Wagtail of note. An afternoon seawatch produced the first Balearic Shearwater of the autumn and four Mediterranean Gulls were also seen.

Six Porpoises and a Grey Seal were feeding offshore.

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