This week has been bitterly cold but with glorious sunshine - my favourite type of winter weather!
With the cold spell we have seen a rise in our duck numbers. Lots of wigeon, teal and shoveler have been seen out on the pits. The ring-necked duck can still be seen on Cooks lake by Boulderwall.
A male smew was sighted today! It was seen first from Dennis' hide and again from Makepeace later on in the day, hopefully it will stay around! These beautiful birds visit us to escape harsher weather in Scandinavia and Russia. We only have approximately 180 individuals overwinter here in the UK. As well as our male we have seen up to 6 redheads here too. Definitely worth keeping an eye out for if you are visiting this weekend!
Image: Male and female smew by Mike Langman (rspb-images.com)
The long-eared owls haven't been seen since Monday, but hopefully they will delight us with their presence again soon.
Other sightings on the reserve this week include:
Egyptian, brent and white-fronted geese, slavonian grebe, goosander, goldeneye, pintail, scaup, bittern, buzzards, water rail, goldcrests, firecrests, tree sparrows and chiffchaffs.
An unsual sighting for the reserve was 2 little owls seen by the entrance track.
Image: Little owl by RSPB (rspb-images.com)
Our 'wow' sighting of the week must have been over one thousand cormorants seen on Burrowes pit at one time - an incredible sighting! The UK holds nationally important wintering numbers of cormorants so it's great to see so many here!
Image: Cormorant by Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)
If you are visiting Dungeness over the next week, I hope you continue to see lots of exciting wildlife whilst you're here. Don't forget if you are new to bird watching, join in on our Beginners Bird Race throughout the month or come to our Big Garden Bird Watch event next Saturday! See our website here for more details: www.rspb.org.uk/dungeness