Mar 192011
Our regular Wednesday ramble out took my friends and I to Dungeness this week, and although misty we finally managed to see the glaucous gull in the gull roost on the beach. Were we the last Kent birdwatchers to finally catch up with this one? Possibly, it seems like the rest of the world has already seen it.
Although on paper it had the potential to be an identification nightmare, once we had singled it out and had the chance to compare it with the other gulls we were quite happy.
Other sightings on the ARC and reserve pools generally gave no suprises, with large numbers of shoveler, teal, wigeon, pochard, tufted duck and gadwall. There were several smew – including a very handsome male, and goldeneye. Cormorants are building their twiggy nests in front of the reserve building, and it was interesting to note that several were of the sinensis sub-species which we had seen at the end of last year.
Several reed buntings were feeding around the picnic tables, along with blue tit, great tit and chaffinch.
There had been reports of migrants including wheatear earlier in the week but the cold windy and misty weather was against us on this occasion.
Reed Bunting at Dungeness