Kentish Nature Walk #63 - Dungeness - a Blue Eyed Birder Kids Wildlife Club day out - 21st January 2023

Sunday saw me down at Dungeness for one of my Kids Wildlife Club walks and I arrived early in the hope of catching the Bewick’s Swans leaving the ARC and heading out to Wallend.   Getting there before eight was not early enough and they had already departed but as I walked down to the Hanson Hide I picked up the three Glossy Ibises as they went for a short fly round and could then hear Whooper Swans.  This was a bit of a bonus as they had been frequenting the far end of the pit but these five adults chose my arrival to have a fly round and plonk themselves right out in front of the hide with the three Ibis tucked into the edge out to my left.

Whooper Swans

Glossy Ibises

I spent the next hour watching both sets of marvellous birds as they respectively went about their morning ablutions.  I messaged Orsi and said that I would keep tabs on them all for Max who was particularly keen to see the Ibis.

The pit was actually pretty quiet with just one male Goldeneye amongst the scattering of diving and dabbling duck.  There are no scarce grebes, divers or sawbills anywhere around Dungeness at the moment and winter birding in the south-east feels like it is further waning as a variety of species wisely chose not to cross the North Sea and now spend the winter in a now less cold middle Europe.

Marsh Harriers were constantly on patrol and were in fact very vocal and kept descending into the reed bed opposite. Four birds were involved but I could not discern what exactly they were up to.  One of the males dislodged a Bittern briefly which popped above the surface for a couple of seconds.

The Whoopers were getting restless and also became vocal before deciding it was time to head off for breakfast and all five powerfully took off with much foot pattering and purposefully headed towards Lydd and presumably their Bewick companions.

I walked back to the car hearing Bearded Tits and following a mixed flock that contained Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits, Chiffchaff and four fluffed up little Goldcrests.  Two Cetti’s Warblers called along with similarly invisible Water Rails and a female Merlin rocketed through in pursuit of a solitary Starling.

Goldcrest

Goldcrest

I could only hope that the rest of the day would live up to my expectations when Max, Orsi and Tom arrived.  I had a cup of coffee and kept an eye back on the pit preying that the Ibis stayed put. They did not and soon appeared and flew in their prehistoric, gangly manner off towards the horse paddock just up the road.

Glossy Ibis

A message said ‘be there in 8 minutes!’ – how frustrating!  I grabbed my gear and walked up to the first layby to scan the distant paddock (the road is just too dangerous to walk along) but all I could see were six Cattle Egrets and seven Little Egrets (who would of thought I could use such a disparaging term about a flock of UK Egrets!).

I was soon scooped up by the family (showing Max a roadside Great White Egret in the process) and we popped down to the entrance by the flooded paddocks for a closer look and although the Egrets were wonderful and a Buzzard was perched on the fence it was distinctly lacking in Ibis.

Great White Egret

Cattle Egrets

As such we headed straight down towards the fishing boats where I was plied with Choc au Pain in the hope of finding young Max his first Caspian Gull. We trudged across the shingle to the sea.  There was a very cool breeze and digits were quickly numbed but within just a couple of minutes I had picked up a smart first winter patrolling the shoreline which pleased him no end.  A similar plumaged Yellow-legged Gull quickly became new bird number two for the morning.  Two 2w Med Gulls dipped around the bent fishing rods of hopeful anglers and further out there were Kittiwakes to keep the gull theme going.

The sea was very choppy which precluded watching anything on the sea but there were line of elliptical Razorbills whizzing back and forth with the odd Guillemot amongst then while Great Crested Grebes and Red-throated Divers did likewise a little higher up.  Way out there was a vast congregation of Gannets and thankfully some funnelled in closer and performed some full on mass diving for us all to watch. Orsi was particularly taken by them.

Gannets

Fourteen Turnstone were sheltering on the beach and would often hunker down and completely disappear amongst the stones and shells which led us to engage in a bit of beachcombing.  There were large Cockles, Slipper Limpets, Scallops, Netted Whelks and Dog Whelks along with the carapaces of variously sized Spider Crabs, Cuttlefish internal shells, a small piece of Sponge, Dog Whelk eggs cases and a multitude of spent Ray egg cases that I have yet to identify.  Once I have done so they will submitted to the Great Eggcase Hunt for the Sharks Trust.  I showed Max the first one and he then went off and came back with about a dozen.  

Turnstone

Ray & Skate egg cases - will update soon!

Sponge

Dog Whelk & egg case

Translucent shell

The cold was getting to us all so we cut back to the car and then made our way down to the reserve for a warm up inside while watching the Shoveler and Teal just outside.  The drakes of the former were gleaming in the sunshine and some of the normally green heads were actually looking rich purple. Max found a drake Goldeneye from the Dennis Hide and there were some gloriously coloured Greenfinches on the feeders in the car park.

Greenfinches

Another check on Cooks Pool once again failed to produce the missing Ibis with just some Curlew, Canada Geese, a swirl of Golden Plovers and a mass of Coots although we did get another Great White Egret and out first Marsh Harriers, Kestrel and Stonechats of the day.

Stonechat

Stonechat

I opted for a drive out to look for the wild swan flock before lunch and after wiggling through Lydd we found our way to Hawthorn Corner where a large herd could be seen way out in the fields.  The scope ate up the distance and Max had his third new bird of the day with 58 happily grazing Bewick’s Swans.  It was good to see so many youngsters amongst the herd and even better when I realised that the five Whooper Swans were also out there and feeding just away from their smaller cousins. Golden Plovers and Lapwings were dotted with smaller gulls around the very damp fields with probing Rooks and gangs of Jackdaws.

Lunch was taken in the ARC car park before a brief look from the hide.  It was colder inside than out but there were no Ibis to keep us in there for long and the walk back added Chiffchaff and Water Rails to their day tally.  

Chiffchaff

We drove back over the road and checked Cooks Pool once again and I suddenly spotted the trio of pesky Glossy Ibis dropping in to the paddocks behind the farm and thankfully Max saw them briefly and so we made our way back to my layby, assuming that they would be lurking in the hidden channels further back but we could not see them. Thankfully Tom bothered to look at the favoured spot on the other side of the road and there they were so we scooted quickly down the road resulting a very happy family with their first look at this enigmatic species.  The sun was still out and they actually gleamed with petrol sheens across their wings.  The Cattle Egrets were still following the ponies around and two Egyptian Geese warily watched us.

Glossy Ibises

Cattle Egret

With his prime target under the belt and his fourth new bird I opted for a drive around to Springfield Bridge with the light behind us.  There were Wigeons and Teal alongside the dykes and Mute Swans in the fields while a female Merlin was perched up near the reeds on Dengemarsh which was great little bonus. A Meadow Pipit and Reed Bunting flew over and our closest Great White Egret lumbered up in front giving cracking views.

Wren

Great White Egret 

There was still time for one more stop that could add a few more to the day list so we headed west to Scotney Pit passing the desired Barnacle Geese on the way and although there were no different ducks we did somehow add more waders with Redshank, Dunlin, Ringed Plover and two Green Sandpipers around the uninviting margins.

With energy reserves waning and the supply of French pastries running low, we called it day and I suspect that young Max was either grinning or sleeping (or both) all the way home.