Dungeness

August 10th



With a free morning and commitments in the afternoon myself and Paul headed down at dawn in the hope of a goodie or two.

With the stronger winds forecast mid morning to late afternoon, we were hopeful of a big Shearwater perhaps pushed in by the remnants of the Hurricane.
Devon and Cornwall had seen good numbers of Greats and Cory’s so there was an outside chance of one or two of them getting pushed along the channel.

Red Throated Diver

Fulmar

Knot and Bar Tailed Godwit

Early signs that it was to be an exceptionally high tide came in the shape of the skipper of the boat we were sheltering behind, he turned up and hooked the boat up to the bulldozer and pulled it further up the shingle by 20 foot.

As it turned out it was a very wise move.

We watched from 5.50 to 11.15am, no big Shears but we did have some good birds – highlights as follows-

Swift – 118 all going west against the wind, largest flock 41
Fulmar - 9
Mediterranean Gull – 4 juveniles
Common Scoter – 34 seen, largest flock 13
Kittiwake – 10 seen mostly juv’s
Balearic Shearwater – 1 @6.42am and 2 together @9.12am
Manx Shearwater – 8
Little Tern – 1
Whimbrel – 4 trying to fly west
Black Tern – 7
Arctic Skua – 3
Red Throated Diver – 1 on the sea gave close views
Shelduck – a flock of 35
Knot – 3
Bar Tailed Godwit - 16

Not a bad little haul, everything was moving west, unusual sight of the morning considering the wind goes to a Hummingbird Hawkmoth buzzing round the boats presumably seeking shelter.
Gannets, Common and Sandwich Terns were moving through as per usual in good numbers.

France

In regard to the tide by 10.40am we had to move higher, wind driven it pushed up the shingle and flooded us out.

Early on - normal position where most people watch from

Starting to come in,early on sea level was about 3 metres lower

Time to move

Still rising when we left

A good morning and a brief visit on our way out produced 3 Garganey and a Pintail on the Arc Pits.

Wasp's nest - a work of art