Did you take part in the Big Garden Birdwatch over the weekend? I did and I discovered that I had a lot more visitors to my garden than I first thought so that was super exciting! I'm now finding myself daydreaming out of the window a lot more than previously, hoping to catch the blue tits on the feeder or the wren hopping around the bare rose bushes!
At Dungeness we've had plenty of birds taking advantage of the feeders here too! Tree sparrows, goldcrests and a great spotted woodpecker were the stars of the show on the feeders this week which is fantastic!
For the majority of this week the weather has been pretty miserable so our visitors have been sheltering in our visitor centre to watch the wildlife instead of braving it around our trail (I don't blame them!). The amount of wildlife that can be seen from our visitor centre is vast, with highlights this week including:
Male and female pintails, smews, goldeneyes, goosanders and gadwalls.
Two black-necked grebes and a Slavonian grebe both seen yesterday.
Perigrines, ravens and marsh harriers have all been seen flying over Burrowes pit.
Ringed plovers were seen on Burrowes pit on the 6th and kingfisher was seen yesterday too!
Some unusual visitors for this time of year also include painted lady and red admiral butterflies!
For those that ventured out around our trail, other highlights from around the reserve this week include:
Great white egret and little egrets seen on the fields near Boulderwall yesterday
A bittern was seen both at Hookers pit and at ARC on 6th
A merlin and a hen harrier were seen flying above our access track as people drove in this week - what a glorious welcome that must have been!
Two long-eared owls were seen roosting in their usual spot in the willow on the far side of the dipping pond most days last week including yesterday.
Cetti’s warbler seen at Scott hide on the 4th
Long-tailed tit seen at Firth hide on the 7th
Over the road at the ARC there has been sightings of 2 redpolls and a chiffchaff (seen by Hanson hide)
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At Denge Marsh there have been:
350 golden plover and a snipe were seen at Denge Marsh over the weekend
Stonechats seen on the 2nd
Dartford warbler seen on the 6th
Bearded tit seen on the 4th
Penduline tit seen on the 4th
All-in-all not a bad week for wildlife watching! There is always something to see at any time of year!
(Photos from rspb-images.com)