Two weeks at Dungeness, two hours at Rye

I stayed at Dungeness Bird Observatory (DBO) from October 18th until November 1st. These are the highlights of what proved to be - as usual - a most interesting and enjoyable time. All counts are of birds personally recorded by me. The official observatory day totals will largely be higher.

Early easterlies. The weather had looked good for a bit of vagrant action, and if you were in East Yorkshire that was certainly the case - but down at Dungeness it was but a matter of wishful thinking. Dave Bunney tried his hardest and came up with a beautifully bright Yellow-browed Warbler (19th) which we gratefully accepted although I’d be economical with the truth to suggest that it was anything other than winning the third prize in a raffle. That same evening a skein of nine White-fronted Geese flew east. These were just the warm up act for the following day. The 20th dawned overcast and muggy with the brisk easterly wind still in the ascendancy. It turned out to be one of those ‘proper’ observatory days, with birds dropping in throughout the day albeit in modest numbers. The goose theme continued, with pre-lunch skeins of White-fronted (9, 7 and 29) and an unexpected but welcome 5 Tundra Bean Geese east. However, I saved the best until last when, in fading light, a skein of 300 White-fronts came in off of Lade Bay and headed west. Earlier, thrushes had demanded our attention, with 50 Redwing, 30 Blackbird and six Ring Ouzels dropping in before quickly departing. Three Woodcocks were flushed out on the open shingle, and as I was checking the low broom on the beach a Jack Snipe took off from my toe, circled around me once before alighting some 200m away - a tremendous cameo.

Storms Austen and Boelo. The UK was hit by two vicious low pressure systems one after the other which, at Dungeness, manifested themselves with strong SSE to SW winds and frequent rain between 23rd - 26th, calming down gradually on 27th. As hoped for, it was a highly productive time for sea watching. My abiding memory of this period is one of Little Gulls, a constant presence feeding along the shoreline, with birds regularly seen to head inland. The RSPB gravel pits were a ready refuge, with up to 130 on Burrowes Pit alone. On 27th the first two hours of our sea watching suggested that 40+ birds were feeding along the beach, birds dipping into the breaking waves to pick off morsels, but it soon became apparent that these birds were slowly moving through westwards to be replaced by others. I watched the replacement gulls come in out of the bay to join their fellow tideline foragers, with  others just meandering along the beach from further west. All moved through unhurried. By late afternoon I had recorded a minimum of 600 birds. As the afternoon brightened up the light became ideal in which to watch and fully appreciate these delicate larids, all dove white, pearly grey, black angular bars and underwings depending on age. On rounded wings they positively floated above the surface, held aloft and tugged on unseen strings, and all mere metres away from me (two images below). A session I will never forget. But it was not just Little Gulls! My notebook over these five days also recorded a Great Northern Diver, 6 Sooty Shearwater, 5 Leach’s Petrel, a European Storm Petrel and 2 Grey Phalarope (one of which is pictured sitting on the sea with a Little Gull below). It is fair to say that, overall, the sea was not about quantity but quality.

Visible Migration. It was getting too late for numbers of hirundines and pipits but prime time for some finch action. As it turned out even the finches were disappointing, with best movements being confined to Goldfinch (474 SW on 19th, 1,550 S on 26th) with more modest counts of Chaffinch, Linnet and other assorted finches. It was, however, an unprecedented period for Woodlarks. My own tally was as follows - four on 22nd, 13 on 24th (part of a record 23 that day), 10 on 28th, one on 30th and two on 1st. But as for spectacle it was the humble Stock Dove that stole the show (below), with big movements on 28th - 31st. They would arrive from the north in the first two hours of daylight, in flocks of up to 300. Some headed out to sea; others did so then did a u-turn; mostly they reached the point and then circled before heading off NW or back the way they came; quite a few pitched down in the sallows. My counts of 2100, 200, 846 and 415 do not really do credit to the spectacle of the messy and confused movements.

Rye Harbour. It had to be done. After days of scouring the shingle with a rare Wheatear in mind, one did indeed turn up (30th) - but just a few miles to the west - a male Desert Wheatear no less. I piled into Jacob and Charlotte’s car (along with Tom) arriving at a heaving Rye Harbour full of families on a half-term day out. The information on the bird was rather scant, the few local birders present not aware of who had reported it and could only confirm that they could not find it. Had there even been one? We decided to break up and search other areas. After maybe 30 minutes we were alerted to the bird having been refound further along the beach towards the river mouth, frequenting a vegetated area of shingle close to the abandoned block house (Top and below). This most arresting of birds then performed for us for a good hour. It was frequently spooked by non-birders who unknowingly walked through its favoured area, but the bird was tolerant and often settled close to us. On one occasion in flew straight at me and then reared up feet from my face before flipping round. With a honeyed backdrop to a honeyed bird, warm sun and light breeze, it was a magical couple of hours.

Odds and ends. Bird-wise the following warrant a mention - the morning commute of Cormorants from their roost on the RSPB reserve to the sea that topped out at 1,450 on 31st; the daily dose of Dartford Warblers (below) with up to six in the recording area; a ring-tailed Hen Harrier that coasted eastwards during heavy rain and a howling wind on 23rd; two Hawfinch flying along the beach on 28th; three Whooper Swan that arrived on 28th and stayed faithful to ARC; a ‘barking’ Bittern over the trapping area in the dark on 29th; a first-winter drake Ring-necked Duck plus a female Scaup on the Caravan Pit on 31st. There were some non-avian moments as well, most notably a Bottle-nosed Dolphin on 21st and a battered Long-tailed Blue butterfly that kept faithful to a sunny glade in the trapping area on 22nd. I must acknowledge the Dungeness birding family that once again welcomed me warmly. I entertained them one morning by running up a shingle ridge to escape the attentions of a rogue wave, evading the water but falling headfirst onto the deck, resulting in a couple of cuts to the body and a scratched telescope eye-piece. The damage to the glass under a hand-lens is not a pretty sight but in the field makes no difference to the quality of the image seen through the scope - phew! What a twazzock…