What a wild and spooky time we have been having on the reserve. We have been gearing up for Halloween by providing an array of creepy activities for families to take part in. These finish tomorrow so get yourself down to Dungeness for the day to take part. Don’t fret if you can’t make it, the spider trail will be running throughout the weekend and there’s always a Wildlife Explorer backpack or some binoculars that you can borrow to take round the trail with you.
Wildlife highlights of the week include a cute little weasel seen running across the car park and also a male pheasant that’s been hanging around (this is an unusual sighting for Dungeness!)
We had our first goosanders of the year spotted yesterday on Burrowes pit, tundra bean geese have also been on Burrowes pit too.
Goosander by Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)
Great white egrets have been around the reserve today, as have plenty of bearded tits seen in the reedbeds early this morning. We’ve been lucky enough to have some really still days on the reserve so the smaller birds are always out and about. Stonechats, fieldfare, ring ouzels, rock and meadow pipits have all been seen as well as a cheeky black redstart who loves showing off on top of the visitor centre roof!
Peregrines, merlins and kestrels have been seen around the reserve this week and a little owl was seen today!
Merlin by Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com)
There are plenty of waders still around on the reserve including; lots of golden plover, grey plovers, curlew sandpiper, dunlin, snipe and jack snipe, ruff, sanderling, bar-tailed and black-tailed godwits, little stints and water rails.
We’ve had huge numbers of goldfinches, siskins and chaffinches on the reserve – over 250 of each have been seen at one time.
Goldfinches on feeder by John Bridges (rspb-images.com)
There have been some swallows lagging behind on the reserve – due to the unusually warm weather, we still have wildflowers blooming and bumblebees, dragonflies and butterflies about too!