Dungeness, spoonbills, small birds and a bad back!

Yesterday, David Campbell and I went to Dungeness. Weather wasn't brilliant but we had a really nice day. David wanted to see the squacco heron that was there on Sunday but the bird had flown!

While David kept a vigil for the heron at the ramp I relaxed photographing small birds near the Christmas hide. Monday being a weekday, the reserve is quiet and the birds more confiding. I was able to get really close to a sedge warbler and a common whitethroat, and reasonably close to some linnets.

Sedge warbler

Common whitethroat

A hobby flew over chasing dragonflies and eating them on the wing as this sequence shows:

Hobby. "I'm hungry! Hope there's some food soon".

"There's a damsel fly. I'll go for it!"

"Nearly there! Get claws ready."

"Gotcha!! Mmm! Lovely!"

"Right. Where's the next one?"

I joined David on the ramp from where we were treated, unexpectedly, to the sight of a pair of spoonbills which flew almost over our heads. I fired off well over 100 shots with my camera above my head and must have pulled a muscle in my back. I was in serious pain this morning! Handholding a 5Kg camera for more than a couple of frames is dangerous!! This is what caused my agony:

Spoonbill

Reed warblers flitted tantalisingly near but they are very difficult to photograph as they only hang around for a second or two. I just couldn't get a photo.

From the hide we saw a pair of common terns on the raft, mating even this late in the season.

Common terns. "I told you to sit on those eggs!"

Back at the visitor centre we nearly stepped on some very small newts, probably smooth newts, that were crossing the path.

We wandered over to the ARC pit hoping the spoonbills might have landed there. They hadn't, but there were more reed warblers! Several times I tried to get a shot without success. The reeds were thick and autofocus doesn't work in that situation. I initially had my camera on a beanbag but it's not possible to focus manually with the focus ring resting on a beanbag! Finally, I put my camera on the tripod and waited. After a couple of failures I finally managed to nail a shot of a reed warbler bringing food back to some youngsters out of sight.

Reed warbler bring food to its young.

A very enjoyable day.

Dungeness. The rare egrets.

Arrived at Dungeness hoping to get a better view of the dusky warbler but no luck. In recompense, managed reasonable views of the two rare egrets, the cattle egret and the great white egret.

The cattle egret was in a field next to the Dengemarsh Road. The barren field doesn't make a very good backdrop but that's where he was!!

Cattle egret, Dengemarsh, Kent

I walked to the Dengemarsh hide in search of the great white egret and perhaps even the glossy ibis which some had seen. Had my lunch there and scanned the gulls for any rarities. No sign of the great white, so I wandered back to the car again. As I arrived, the great white egret was just coming out of some nearby reeds. I crept up to a large fencepost to put my beanbag on and took a few shots before it went into the reeds again. I like this one particularly.

Great white egret, Dengemarsh, Kent

Oare and Dungeness for rarities

Took Lynne, my wife, to see her parents in Kent. We both went to Oare where the tide was low and the water level in the East Flood was high. Quite a nice selection of ducks: Tufted, Shoveler, Pintail, Teal, Widgeon and Mallard. NO waders at all except three distant snipe. Very quiet in the reedbeds too. Two Reed buntings and a stonechat, plus a Cetti's warbler nearby. Stayed an hour and dropped Lynne off before going on to Dungeness.

David Campbell had arrived an hour before me and we met at the seawatching point (David having already looked at the rest of RSPB Dungeness and pronounced it 'dead'). We looked in vain for black redstart near the beach. David was getting depressed and grumpy at the lack of action. We decided to walk to the observatory. Finally we saw a female Black Redstart, a year tick for both of us. David's spirits lifted. We saw a particular race of stonechat on the way back to the car (don't ask me what) and then went to Pannel Valley to try and see the Great Grey Shrike which had been reported.

We had no idea where it was, but we found a path along the ditch. After about 500m we saw the Great Grey Shrike on top of a tall bush 75m ahead. Took some pics before sneaking a little closer. Got to about 50m when it flew to another favourite bush much further off. Watched it for a while and then went back to the car where we saw a barn owl in an adjoining field.

Remember, the picture below was taken from quite a way off.

Great Grey Shrike.

It was getting late so I had to go and pick Lynne up from her parents. In all, a modest day. Three year ticks, the Cetti's warbler, Black Redstart and the Shrike.