Stupid boy... Dingyness - 19th February 2018

Things not to do when you have stinking manflu or similar...

1. Do not go to work for three days with it, over a mad half term weekend... 
2. Do not under any circumstances try and still run a guided day out at Dungeness on the Monday... 
3. Do not get cold and wet without very good reason...

Needless to say I did my usual ‘I’ll be alright!’ thing and carried on regardless and as such let’s just say that the Dungeness visit yesterday only lasted to lunchtime and I was back home and in bed by half one.

That’s not to say that we did not have an ornithologically interesting few hours although the weather was foul with light persistent rain throughout. We met at the ARC as usual and sploshed down to the hides where a Great White Egret was lurking just outside. Surprisingly this was actually the only one we saw.  

Gadwall and Shoveler predominated and small parties of Goldeneye were engaged in pair bonding with display and mating observed. A Black-throated Diver did a circuit before flying out of view but did not reappear while we waited. 

The stars here were the Kingfishers with a pair of very showy birds fishing from just outside the hide. It was a shame that they light was so poor but at least the flash of cobalt and orange brightened up proceedings.

In a brief cessation in the heavy rain we headed for Dungeness Point where Julie found the juvenile Glaucous Gull for us on the beach. This huge Arctic brute showed very well and was a new bird for three of the group so there were smiles all round.

The sea was covered in birds with rafts of Great Crested Grebes and Cormorants diving in unison with packs of Guillemots and Razorbills in varying stages of summer garb a little further out. Red-throated Divers moved west in wavy lines and a second Black-throated Diver was also seen along with a few Kittiwakes and Gannets.

With the rain not letting up we retraced our steps back to the reserve for a short walk to the Makepiece Hide and back.  It was very quiet with no real winter duck of any sort at all with Shoveler being the duck of the day!

I eventually refound the Black-throated Diver and this nice scaly juvenile followed us all the way back to the centre where we could have watched it from the warmth and comfort of the centre without getting wet again...

Black-throated Diver

A quick lunch and followed by apologies and a careful drive home with bleary eyes albeit with two minutes at the front gate to look at a Tree Sparrow...