Dungeness

Monday October 15

Late up on a very misty and cool morning, a shower in the mini shower cubicle before emptying the moth trap. I didn’t expect much after last night’s steady rain and cold. As I’d thought, down to 45 moths of 18 species. There were some new ones, this lovely Autumn Green Carpet – definitely green – shone out, Snout, Feathered Thorn and Brick.

Despite the poor visibility and low cloud cover here on the ridge in the North Downs, we had to do something. Our usual response, go to the coast. Dungeness is only 28 K away.  As we dropped down to  the coastal plain, the mist dissipated, as did the clouds, and the sun appeared. We then had a very warm, sunny afternoon. Three Red Admiral Butterflies and many Dragonflies showed their appreciation.  
It’s many years since we visited Dungeness, successfully twitching an Audouin’s Gull. All I remember is acres of shingle, scattered houses with messy, boat apparel-filled gardens and tufty bushes. It hasn’t changed much. We stopped to scan roadside pits, seeing Tufted Ducks, Great Crested Grebes, Pochard and our first fly past Great Egret.

Birding our way out on the shingle path to the RSPB Reserve, we added Kestrel and  Stonechat before parking to scope a mass of mainly Greater Black-backed Gulls with a few Herring Gulls, preening on a shingle bank, feathers flying everywhere in a miniature snow storm. Caspian Gull has been reported and I did my best to find one. A small flock of Lapwing was flustered into flight by a low flying single engine plane, taking off from Lydd airport.

At the RSPB Visitors Centre we were welcomed by the two receptionists, one, the volunteer, someone who thought he had to be funny all the time. He wasn’t. Reacting to a notice, we said that we had mobility issues and were told that we could drive to several of the hides. Pam decided that she needed a coffee injection before setting off,  so we sat and scanned the pit outside whilst we had our drinks. A good variety of ducks including Gadwall and Shoveller plus a flock of Golden Plover which seemed to blend into the shingle.

We then visited three of the widely spread hides on the reserve, the birds hardly varying from pit to pit. We didn’t find the large number of Great Egrets reported as being together but kept coming across single or pairs of birds. 

The pits are all scenically attractive with many shingle and sand islands constructed by the RSPB, attractive to birds but very distant for viewers. One pit had two Dunlin and a single Little Stint, the latter a year bird for us.

We stopped to photograph a young Kestrel 

before turning to frame a Grey Heron fishing amongst the reeds. As I did so, Pam called ‘’Big one flying, coming left now’’, smacking me on the shoulder. I managed two shots of a flying Great Egret, the first one not in focus and this one.
 

On the way here, my phone burst into life with a very pleasant and helpful email from the Dungeness Observatory warden, David.  After a good search, driving the tracks through the shingle coastal fringe and getting negative answers from all we asked, we found the Obs. The end house in a row of dwellings occupied by the Power Station staff. At last. Even the café within sight of the place had never heard of it. Astonishing. 

Pam knocked several times without a response, found the door open and poked her head round the door, calling out. A voice replied, saying that he’d just got out of the shower. And it wasn’t David, he wasn’t there. I tried to respond to his email, asking for a suitable time to visit but I don’t know whether it went or not as my connection went. Somewhere in this area of wilderness, we parked so that Pam could have a snack. A distant hoot was puzzling until I suddenly thought that it could be a train whistle. Yes it was. We’d crossed the narrow gauge Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch railway on two occasions earlier. We set off post haste to try and intercept the train and succeeded.  
Debatably, the highlight  of the day, the dear little green engine pulling six small carriages at a sedate pace and emitting a surprisingly large amount of smoke, passed by.

Aspinall, an inveterate gambler and wildlife lover, founded two animal parks in Kent, funded by his winnings. One is Howlett’s the other Port Lympne Wildlife Park. We passed signs to the latter on the way home so decided to investigate. Pam has supported their Gorilla re-wilding to an African island for several years. It’s a very extensive park, 600 acres on  a hillside, no buggies for hire so that’s out. The staff member Pam talked to said that staff had been pushing for their use for years but nothing happened.

Back to our horsy yard, the lone, roaming sheep, nowhere to be seen to-night. Horses often have a sheep as horse box and stable companions, maybe it was snuggled up somewhere. It lkeaves plenty of evidence of its presence where we park the car.