RXwildlife Sightings » Dungeness Bird Observatory

Dungeness Seabirds

David Walker — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:07:22 +0000

The most impressive sight this morning was a flock of around 2000 Razorbills feeding close inshore of the fishing boats along with some 400 Guillemots and at least 500 Great Crested Grebes. A Velvet Scoter made several passes offshore during the day and an immature Pomarine Skua was seen in the afternoon. A few Brent Geese also flew east and an Eider and two Red-breasted Mergansers were of interest. The first-winter Caspian Gull showed very well again and the second-winter Glaucous Gull was also seen.

Orcas

David Walker — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 22:59:15 +0000

Without doubt the highlight of the day off Dungeness was a pod of four Orcas, all likely to be males judging by their dorsal fin size and shapes, which were watched for about 20 minutes in mid-morning as they fed about a mile offshore.

Dungeness Bird Observatory

David Walker — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 22:11:17 +0000

A handful of migrants arrived including a fine male Redstart, two Ring Ouzels, two Whitethroats and 15 Willow Warblers. Two Yellow Wagtails, 17 Swallows and a Brambling and four Siskins also flew through. The Glaucous Gull was in its usual station at the fishing boats.
Also of note, what was presumably the same swift was seen for a short time at ARC in the early morning and these observers were able to confirm its identity as a Pallid Swift.
Click here for more DBO sightings.

Dungeness Birds Observed

David Walker — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 17:49:19 +0000

The Glossy Ibis made another sortie over the recording area and a Raven was heard but not seen. A party of three White-fronted Geese also flew east over the area. Two Firecrests were seen at the Long Pits.
At sea, there were large numbers of Gannets, Razorbills and Guillemots and at least 500 Kittiwakes feeding offshore, 65 Wigeon flew east and the Glaucous Gull remains on site.
from the DBO website

Dungeness

David Walker — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 22:22:24 +0000

A day of dismal weather but good birds continue to appear. The highlight was a Hoopoe which spent most of the day in a small area of beach near the fishing boats. Five Lapland Buntings were also seen in the same general area. Seawatching produced 14 Arctic Skuas and a Great Skua and there were 20 Black Terns at the Patch. The flock of 18 Glossy Ibis were still on the RSPB Reserve.
From DBO website.

Dungeness Bird Observatory

David Walker — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 06:51:20 +0000

Yesterday’s Red-backed Shrike spent the day in the broom and gorse between West Beach and the Old Lighthouse but was difficult to see well in the poor weather conditions. Fresh migrants on the ground were thinly scattered but included three Whinchats. Twenty Yellow Wagtails also flew over. There were three juvenile Mediterranean Gulls, two Little Gulls, four juvenile Arctic Terns and two Black Terns feeding offshore during the morning whilst eight Arctic Skuas and seven Great Skuas flew past and a Black-necked Grebe floated east on the sea in the afternoon. The Cattle Egret, Purple Heron and Great White Egret were all seen again at various locations around the RSPB Reserve. See DBO website.

Global gulls

David Walker — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 07:32:05 +0000

At Dungeness yesterday there were gulls from several parts of the globe “The Patch was the place to be during the morning where a first-winter Iceland Gull appeared at 1120hrs and then spent an hour or so feeding before heading off eastwards. Also among the gulls was a short-staying first-winter Caspian Gull and an adult Mediterranean Gull. ” from DBO website.

Dungeness Birds

Barry Yates — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:38:49 +0000

An excellent days birding with plenty of interest. The highlight was a first-winter Red-breasted Flycatcher trapped at first light but it was not seen again after its release. Most of the remaining interest was provided by birds flying overhead with a party of three Cranes heading out to sea, a Buzzard, two Woodlarks, 11 Grey Wagtails, eight Rock Pipits, two Ravens and two Lapland Buntings. Good numbers of grounded migrants also included two Ring Ouzels, 115 Blackbirds, 95 Song Thrushes, 80 Redwings, three Blackcaps, 15 Chiffchaffs, 20 Bramblings, 47 Siskins and 32 Redpolls. The Cattle Egret was showing well at Dengemarsh in the sheep field to the south of Springfield Bridge and two Glossy Ibis were seen at ARC.

from David Walker, DBO website

Dungeness Birds

Barry Yates — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:17:13 +0000

Dungeness seawatch

Pat Bonham — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 20:51:23 +0000

Among the birds logged on a 2-hour seawatch at Dungeness in Friday morning’s strong easterly were five skuas including an adult Pomarine and 2 Arctic, 60 Gannets, 17 Common Scoter, 180 Sandwich Terns and 4 Little Gulls. A Black Redstart was on the power station wall and a Common Redstart by the Observatory, with a Pied Flycatcher also reported.