Summer is well and truly upon us and the breeding season for many of our bird species is approaching the end for the year, which means its time to start field operations within these fields to keep them in great condition for breeding, passage and overwintering wildfowl and waders. 

In early spring we keep and maintain high water levels within the fields as this is what our waders are looking for, as eggs start to hatch…

Any recent visitor to Dungeness will have noted the absence of common terns on Burrowes Pit and all around the reserve this year. This is very disappointing after several good years in a row for breeding terns until last year, so we have done a little digging into what may have happened.

Dungeness is not alone in this situation, Wallasea Island are reporting far fewer numbers of terns after years of increase like Dungeness…

Another month has flown by with lots of work still happening out on the reserve. The sea buckthorn removal has been completed and it is noticeable how well this work is going with much less regrowth than feared.

This has now been added into the big piles from last winters work to be got rid of in the spring/summer. This work will benefit rare plants such as Jersey cudweed and the Warne’s Thread Moss…

The poor weather this month has really impacted sightings on the reserve this month. Being closed for a few days didn’t help but the poor birds spent a lot of the month hunkered down to stay safe from the horrendous winds we have had!

However, we have had the following seen on the reserve in February and things are only going to get busier with spring well and truly on its way!!

The red-headed …

We are so excited to finally be able to run events again here at RSPB Dungeness. There is now quite the selection of events live on our website. They are as follows:

Beginner Bird Identification Workshops and Guided Walks led by John Young and Paul Trodd.

Learn to tell your blackbirds from your blue tits and your house sparrows from your starlings! Join us on a guided walk around RSPB Dungeness reserve afterwards…

January has been an incredible start to 2022 for the reserve team with lots of work happening all over the reserve. Excitingly the final piece of decking has now been installed on the Willow Trail Boardwalk after months of gruelling work by the reserve team volunteers. Although this is a major milestone and moment of celebration for the team, there is still a lot of work to be done before we can re-open the area to the…

Hello! Firstly, we would like to apologise for the lack of blog updates recently. We plan to kick off the new year with a sightings update from January to give you a taste of what's about here at Dungeness.

This month we have had quite a few special sightings.

We started the new year with an absolute highlight. After having no smew on the reserve last year we finally had a red-headed smew spotted in ARC pit which has…

As we end another challenging year at Dungeness with plenty of change and lots coming up in 2022, we thought that this would be an ideal opportunity to update you on some of our exciting plans going forward. If you have any questions, please do speak to the Welcome Team on your next visit – we are always happy to have a chat!

We have received lots of positive comments about the reserve, the Lookouts, the targeted…

Credit Aardman/Netflix.  

We’re delighted to be partnering with Netflix and Aardman on Robin Robin, a half-hour, stop-motion, festive story for the whole family, about a young robin trying to fit in. It’s debuting on Netflix on 24 November – get the date in your diary! 

To celebrate, we’re inviting you to join exclusive Robin Robin-themed adventure trails right here at RSPB Dungeness nature reserve this Christmas…

This week, we've had some nice dry weather on the reserve, although windy and a little colder at times. It's brought out a lot of insect species, with sightings of emperor dragonflies and a range of butterflies, from common blue, to small coppers to peacock, red admiral and painted ladies.

Small copper butterfly - Dave Clarke

Recent bumblebee surveys showed good numbers of brown banded carder bees, buff tailed…

The last couple of years have certainly been strange, and everyone is still trying to figure out what the new ‘normal’ might look like. There has been constant change over the last couple of years, interspersed with three national lockdowns. No one could have predicted that!

Despite the national lockdowns and all of the disruption brought about by COVID, the RSPB Dungeness team have been hard at work improving…

This week, we've had a lot of harrier sightings. This included 5 marsh harriers in one go, which included 3 juveniles, so we are hoping this may have been a breeding success! We also had a hen harrier hang out on the nature reserve for the day on Wednesday. 

Of the UK's birds of prey, hen harriers are the most intensively persecuted. Once predating free-range fowl, earning its present name, its effect on the number…

It's been hot this week! It's lovely to finally feel like summer is here, plus the bonus of being at Dungeness during a 'heatwave' is that there is nearly always a breeze to keep you a little bit cooler on your walk around our amazing nature trail. 

As the birds rest up after their busy breeding season of raising their chicks, this is the time to shine for our invertebrates! Dungeness is awash with dragonflies…

This week, our wildlife garden is blooming the best it ever has done. With thanks to hardworking volunteers, the garden has been extended and transformed with lots of insect-friendly plants added. Jackie and James, our volunteer gardeners have done a fantastic job, nurturing plants in their greenhouse at home and then bringing them in to give us an outstanding array of flowers for our visitors and wildlife to enjoy. Our…

Nottingham Catchfly (Silene nutans), a plant first found growing all along the walls of Nottingham castle, but now no longer grows there. Dungeness is a good stronghold of this species of plant. Thriving in sparse shingle habitat, Nottingham catchfly does very well at Dungeness, and this year seems the best ever! This plant has a delightful perfume and smells strongly throughout the evening as it is a night flowering plant…

This week has been glorious and the reserve is full of stunning summer wildlife. The wildflowers, although a little late to the party, are starting to burst out in all their glorious colours. This is delighting our pollinating insects I'm sure, and Dungeness is starting to buzz and hum with a wealth of bee, butterfly, dragonfly, damselfly and beetle species. 

Sea thrift - Louise Kelly

At the start of the week we were…

As the weather finally warms up a bit this week, we are seeing flurries of activity from our wildlife. We've had a few more wheatear pop into the reserve, a few late arrivals to the UK. Also, we've had a regular spotted flycatcher seen on the reserve this week, which has been nice to have something different around to point out to our bird watching visitors. 

Spotted flycatcher - Graham Parry

The warmer weather…

I’m writing to you from a very blustery Dungeness today. With gusts of 60mph, a walk around the reserve today is not for the faint hearted! At least, for now, it is dry, which is always a bonus! Most birds are hunkering down on their nests or in the shelter of the gorse and bramble bushes. Swifts are braving it against the wind to feed on what little flying insects there are around. The St Marks flies are out later than…

As we approach the end of Mental Health Awareness week, it's been a good time to reflect on how this year’s 'theme' of nature, really rings true for many staff, volunteers and visitors to RSPB Dungeness. Nature is good for all of us in so many ways. Not only providing us with the fresh air that keeps viruses at bay (you know the ones I mean), but how trees and plants literally provide oxygen to support all other living…

In the first week of May we had a mixed bag of weather. The wind is still cold but we have had some welcomed rain showers after a very dry April. Our common terns and hobbies have now arrived at our shores. The terns are displaying well over the islands on Burrowes Pit, so we hope we are in for another great breeding season.

Common tern - Dave Clarke

Up to five hobbies at one time have been seen on the reserve, so it…

The weekend is set to be a sunny one! We have so much to showcase on the reserve at the moment so why not visit us for a walk and absorb the sounds of spring. Cuckoos are calling, bitterns are booming and there are many voices of smaller birds such as whitethroats, robins, sedge warblers, wrens, dunnocks and more all competing in the great dawn chorus. 

Sedge warbler - Graham Parry

The dawn chorus is a spring time event…

This week marked the arrival of some familiar spring birds. A cuckoo was seen and heard on the reserve on Monday and it's glorious calls have been heard daily by our visitors since. The cuckoo, with its unmistakable 'cuck-oo' call, is a dove-sized bird with a long tail and pointed wings. It arrives in our country around this time of year and the adults will depart late August, juveniles will hang around until…

Despite the cold wind and frosty nights, the day times at Dungeness recently have been beautiful! We've had lots of dry weather, perfect for those brisk walks we have all come to know so well. We are pretty much fully open for visitors now, the only things that remain closed for the time being are our hides (due to following government guidelines). However, don't let that put you off coming. If you haven't visited Dungeness…

It's Warden Wednesday, so here's an update from our Warden, Craig, on what his team has been up to recently to get ready for the seabird season:

The warden team have been busy installing bamboo canes on our seabird rafts across the reserve, in an attempt to help some of our breeding seabirds.

David Tipling (rspb-images.com)

RPSB Dungeness is a really important area for breeding seabirds, which nest at different…