Friday 30 November 2012

Dungeness

25/11/12

With news of football being cancelled the night before we thought we'd make a day of it and go down to Dungeness on Sunday.

A blustery day meant the first stop were the nets near the observatory to see if anything of interest could be found but the only thing there were some Goldfinches. We then made our way to the patch but not too much there either. We clocked up Herring, Black-Headed, Great Black-Backed and Lesser Black-Backed Gulls, Cormorant, Shag, Common Scoter and Kittiwake. Dad also managed to pick up some Red-Throated Divers but I couldn't pick them out in the waves. After this we went to the fishing boats to see if we could pick the Glaucous Gull up and we managed it (new for the year). Also Dad manage to pick out a Yellow-Legged Gull that was a new one for the year for him.

We moved on to the RSPB centre to see if there were any sightings on the reserve that may reward us with a windy, freezing cold walk but there wasn't. On our way out we saw the Tree Sparrows on the feeders at the farmhouse which is always nice to see. We headed to Scotney Pits to see if we could find the Barnacle Geese that had been reported and a possibility of a Crane that had also recently been reported but no luck with Crane. The Barnacle Geese were in a flock of about 60 with a couple of odd ones in there too. I couldn't get the picture I wanted as there was someone else looking and I didn't want to spook the birds away. After this we drove around the Walland Marsh area in search of Whooper Swans but having no idea at all where exactly they were. By more luck than judgement we came across a flock of Mute Swans and there were 2 Whooper Swans in amongst them.

All in all a good day, 2 lifers for me in Whooper Swan and Barnacle. 3 new ones for the year for me and 4 for Dad.

Glaucous Gull on the right

Barnacle Goose

2 Whooper Swans

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