AUKS AT HOE

With festivities over it was back to normal yesterday and volunteer duties to be done at the Hoe.After giving the sheep their breakfast I did the rounds and as it was pretty dull didn`t bother to lug the camera around,of course when you do this there is always something turns up.Today it was a razorbill and a shag feeding just off the sea wall,in the end I managed a couple of shots of the razorbill and  a guillemot but with the dull day the usual excuses apply.

RAZORBILL

DIVE DIVE DIVE.

GREY HERON HEADING FOR SOME ROCK POOLING.

GUILLEMOT

GUILLEMOT SCULLING.

Further out there were at least 20 more razorbills and a dozen or so gannets and several red throated divers feeding presumably on a shoal of sprats or herrings.
Back on dry land we have recently taken custody of five young cows,but I think one of them was crossed with a giant panda.

CHI CHI THE COW.

If I don`t see you before "HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALL."

BLACK MAGIC AT OARE

A lovely sunny day at Oare yesterday was good value for the diesel used with lots of waders and ducks on show topped off late afternoon with a merlin and a short eared owl.Waders included avocet,dunlin,lapwing,ruff,black tailed godwit,grey plover,curlew, redshank,ringed plover,oystercatcher,snipe,turnstone and golden plover.Ducks seen were wigeon,teal,mallard,pintail(14),shoveller,tufted duck, and red breasted merganser(4) including two drakes flying west up the Swale.
Not much variety on the camera I`m afraid just black tailed godwits,and a couple of merlin record shots.
BLACK TAILED GODWITS

BLACK.T..GODWITS

FEEDING ON THE SWALE MUD.

TWO-THREE -ONE FORMATION PROBING.

FEMALE MERLIN at a respectable distance.

MERLIN in silhouette(magic)
This will almost certainly be the last post before christmas unless something good turns up in the harbour tomorrow,so have a good time  eat drink and be merry as I certainly hope to and I`ll be back soon.

GLAUCOUS IS WILLING

Dungeness Monday starring Malcom McVail as the get away driver in this tale of unrequited twitching,target birds Bewick swans and Penduline tits.Ten years ago a day that included Little Egret,Great white Egret,Bittern x2,Marsh Harrier,Long tailed Duck and Glaucous Gull would have been marvellous ,well it was pretty good today too but the targets did not show until  we had left and were in West Hythe watching the Rough Legged Buzzard.

GLAUCOUS GULL Complete with new tail he may be able to go back up north next year now.

GLAUCOUS GULL in flight this is now a second winter bird I think and will eventually look like this.

ADULT GLAUCOUS GULL at Dungeness January 2009

Theres another storm warning out for tomorrow so the sea wall at the Hoe will be closed all day,but it should be spectacular wave watching and maybe the odd storm wrecked bird.

HARBOUR MASTER

The undoubted master of Dover harbour in the last week has been the great northern diver which has been hanging around the inner harbour and on friday last even ventured into the Wellington dock as far as De Bradleis.

GREAT NORTHERN DIVER in THE WELLINGTON DOCK

As well as this fantastic visitor GUILLEMOTS continue to frequent the harbour,least half a dozen KITTIWAKES can be seen scouting for food around the pier,a MEDITERRANEAN GULL put in a brief appearance and on Saturday a female COMMON SCOTER was diving for crabs 100 yards out from the pier.A raft of 23 GREAT CRESTED GREBES AND 7 TURNSTONES were also around over the weekend,rock pipits also put in the occasional appearance. 
KITTIWAKE

MED GULL

GUILLEMOT

COMMON SCOTER

COMMON SCOTER a diving duck that breeds in northern europe and in small numbers in Scotland,usually seen in large flocks in winter.

ROCK PIPIT

DOVER DIVERS

After a brief sighting of a GREAT NORTHERN DIVER on Sunday afternoon I returned to the harbour at sun up to see if it had stayed overnight,my luck was in and the bird was very close to the shore and stayed around all morning seemingly doing a circuit of the outer harbour then returning to the pier.It was seen catching small crabs and a couple of small dabs,it was also seen snorkelling in the clear water.They are Arctic birds with about 300 pairs breeding in Iceland and are quite rare here in the south east of England with just a few turning up each winter.

AN EARLY START

When I got to the pier the Diver was close in lying very low in the water.

GREAT NORTHERN DIVER

CATCHING CRABS

I took over 350 photos in the session and with Steves Ray Reaynart and Ashton,Tony Morris and Colin Fisher all clicking awayit must be the most photographed diver of the winter so far.

MORE CRAB FOR BREAKFAST.

SNORKELLING

SNORKELLING

A DAB FOR LUNCH Later in the morning a RED THROATED DIVER showed up briefly following its larger cousin along the shoreline.

RED THROATED DIVER these are smaller and more common  around the coast of Kent.
Near the lifeboat station a single GUILLEMOT was loafing around the various craft in the marina it never came close but here is what he looked like.

GUILLEMOT
In the Wellington dock which is tidal at present while the lock gates are being repaired three cormorants were feeding on small fish.

EMERALD EYES OF THE CORMORANT

All morning we were under what in my opinion is the finest castle in Britain if not the world and I could not resist taking its portrait once more.

CASTLE DUBRIS

ROMAN PHAROS AND THE GARRISON CHURCH

STORMS AND SPARROWS

I have had a couple of requests from squeamish readers to remove the wood pigeon from the blog hopefully the demotion to no.2 will satisfy them.Tuesdays gale meant the sea wall was closed at Samphire Hoe because the weight of water coming ashore was spectacular to say the least

.

After Tuesdays gale and Thursdays deluge(37mm) a trip to Dungeness was on the cards on Friday,a rare calm day at this mid channel point.Although there were plenty of wildfowl on show and a nice bittern flew in front of the Hanson hide not a lot troubled the cameras as they kept a safe distance from the hides.

SYNCHRONISED DABBLING GADWALL

DRAKE GADWALL

All of the common ducks were on view and several goldeneye have arrived since my last visit,the female long tailed duck is still on the ARC pit and the long staying drake goosander was also seen.
Whenever I see a tree sparrow I always think of the old joke when Paddy  sees a sign saying  tree fellers wanted,pity there`s only two of us says Mick,alright please yourself.Anyway there is a healthy increase in the numbers of tree sparrows at Boulderwall Farm at the entrance to the reserve,now nearing thirty individuals evidently.

TREE SPARROW AT BOULDERWALL FARM.
After this I went on a wild swan chase across Walland Marsh finding only mute swans,but near the wind farm another small flock of tree sparrows was found in a mixed group of finches and reed buntings.

TREE SPARROW AT HOOK WALL

GREAT TIT came to have a look at the car.
At Scotney on the border between Kent and Sussex the wild goose chase ended with a flock of about 100 Barnacle geese whether they are truly wild is debatable but nevertheless they are handsome birds.

BARNACLE GEESE

THE UGLIEST BIRD IN TOWN

This unfortunate wood pigeon has turned up in my garden and spends all of its time picking up the left overs from the seed feeders,it seems to get enough to survive but has problems drinking from the water bowls,dribbling most of it down its front,I know" it sounds like me on friday night".

GROTESQUELY DEFORMED WOOD PIGEON
After the Little Shop of Horrors its back to a semblance of normality with some improved shots of the SAM HO little owl being obtained on Tuesday along with some more fungii.

LITTLE OWL

FAIRY CLUBS

EARTH TONGUES

MUSHROOMS

The highlight of the day was a Short Eared Owl hunting along the cliff face as the afternoon light faded,no pics of this one but here`s one I made earlier

SHORT EARED OWLS Ancient Highway Sandwich