10/04/2016 Dungeness and Rye harbour

Sunday April 10 2016
Dungeness and Rye Harbour
Paul and Group  (9 of us)

We finally got to go on the long-awaited outing to Dungeness and Rye Harbour,  Paul's decision to go today instead of yesterday was fully vindicated with fine bright conditions and superb visibility.  

Seawatching at Dungeness
We started with a very productive seawatch from outside the hide overlooking the "patch".  The highlights are shown below:

• It wasn't long before we spotted a couple of Arctic Skuas heading east.

• Not long after we had superb views of a Black-throated Diver flying above the skyline in front of us.

• 4 Arctic Terns added to the interest as they flew by in front of us.

• We must have seen well over 100 Brent Geese as successive flocks flew east.

• Common Scoters were very much in evidence throughout our watch.

• A small group of Grebes drew our attention with 2 Great Crested ahead of 2 smaller grebes which we finally agreed were probably Slavonian Grebes.

• At least 2 Mediterranean Gulls were present among the more common varieties.

What a bright start - 90 minutes of top drawer birding!

Scotney Gravel Pits

Next stop was Scotney Gravel Pits where we walked to the area just beyond the farm.

• A couple of Egyptian Geese immediately caught our eyes before a Peregrine stole the show as it flew high above us.

• This event was then eclipsed by some stunning views of a Yellow Wagtail on the bank just 10 metres or so from us.  This was the bird we came to see and boy was it worth it!

• A single Pochard and several Avocets provided the main highlights on the water.

A lovely 60 minutes or so!

Rye Harbour

Our final stop was the nature reserve at Rye Harbour.  The site was flooded with families enjoying the last day of the Easter break. Thankfully the hides were either empty or only sparsely occupied and we enjoyed some rich pickings, as shown below:

• At last I managed to see my first Wheatear of the year, just outside the first hide.  It was the first of many we would see from then on.

• On the way to the Ternary Hide, Paul drew our attention to a couple of Common Terns flying by us to our right.  At the hide we sat back and enjoyed the experience of 100 or so noisy Sandwich Terns on several small islands in front of us.  The couple of Mediterranean Gulls swimming in the water, added to the interest.

• Andrew then led us to the area close by where he had seen a Little Ringed Plover earlier in the week.  After a short while we duly found one, alongside a Ringed Plover to allow us to draw a comparison. 

• Our day held one final, pleasant surprise when we stumbled across a Whitethroat as we made our way back to the car.

Despite the crowds we managed enjoy some excellent birding.

Additions to BUBO 2016 UK Year List
Arctic Skua   (165)
Arctic Tern   (166)
Black-throated Diver   (167)
Yellow Wagtail   (168)
Wheatear   (169)
Common Tern   (170)
Little Ringed Plover   (171)
Whitethroat   (172)

• A super outing with over 70 species seen. No real rarities but a glut of returning migrant birds.  

• My year list jumped by an astonishing 8 species after idling along for weeks.

• Amazingly, I did not see a single Hirundine all day.