Eiders & other ducks

Dungeness - 0600-0800hrs - mild, hazy sunshine, ese 2 - With nobody in last night and no breakfasts to cook we rose with a blood-red sun and headed for an early morning seawatch from the concrete road. As is often the case with seawatching the first hour is usually the best and so it proved today with the highlight being a party of 25 Eiders and a total of 7 Garganeys amongst an array of wildfowl, plus a steady passage of Gannets. Full up-Channel details as follows:
Red-throated Diver 7 , Fulmar 1, Gannet 205, Brent 7, Teal 3, Mallard 4, Pintail 30, Garganey 7, Shoveler 42, Eider 25, Common Scoter 72, Merganser 3, Oystercatcher 1, Ringed Plover 1, Kittiwake 4, Sandwich Tern 7.
Incoming passerines included at least 20 Linnets, several Chaffinch and Greenfinch, while a pair of Wheatears posed on the concrete blocks (no point in photographing them any more now the Trophy has been dished out.... see: www.northdownsandbeyond.blogspot.co.uk ) Carrion Crows came and went and the 1st winter Glaucous Gull put in an appearance. On the sea were the expected Great Crested Grebes and Cormorants, plus 2 Harbour Porpoise, alive and swimming. MH, DW, PB & CP all joined the merriment.
Lydd Allotments - With the sun shining and a light breeze I fully intended to dig for England and sort out me perches, but as ever got distracted, this time by a singing Blackcap in Lydd Wood and a flock of gulls feeding on adjacent farmland that included four Meds; even clocked a pair of Red-legs that were new for the year, if I was only keeping a year list...

                                Spring lambs, Lydd

Lade - Becoming a habit this Saturday afternoon visit to a nearby gravel pits. However, there wasn't a Black-headed Gull to be seen on the nesting island, probably as they were feeding on farmland out on the Marsh. All the usual birds present and correct including 20 Mipits, 10 Skylarks, 10 Pied Wagtails and a decent collection of common ducks, plus a pair of Pintail, while a sickly looking Kittiwake on the water was a surprise, but no summer migrants though. Both fox and hare noted.

 

                                Kittiwake, Lade