Yesterday, we had our first sighting of three female smew on Burrowes Pit. Smew is a winter visitor in small numbers from Scandinavia and Russia. Sometimes birds move here from Holland and Denmark to escape freezing weather there and will get to the southern most points of the UK to rest and feed over the winter. Approximately 180 birds winter in the UK and little is known about the bird on their breeding grounds. Dungeness is a fantastic place for wildfowl over the winter because many different species of ducks and geese will migrate south from the northern regions. Hopefully, our new islands on Burrowes Pit will provide much needed loafing areas for these birds and we will be spoilt with good views from the visitor centre and various hides throughout the winter months.
Female smew - Ben Hall
The glorious males will join us later on. This is usually around December time but they did not arrive until January last winter!
We've also had a fair few Spoonbills drop into us over the last couple of months. Spoonbills are a very rare breeding bird in the UK but about 100 will overwinter here. Many of them head to southern Europe and Africa to spend winters in the wetlands there. These spoonbills below spent the morning feeding on Burrowes Pit outside of Firth hide on the 8th November. The photo was captured by Graham Parry in the morning sunlight.
Redwings have also been spotted on the reserve. You'll notice more redwings and fieldfares as they come to the UK to spend their winter. Redwings feed on berries and worms in fields and hedgerows and will rarely be seen in gardens except during time of heavy frosts or snow. Last winter, there was an exceptionally cold spell between February and March and we had an influx of people asking us to identify redwings seen in their gardens. Redwings are the smallest of thrushes and are a UK red list threatened species. They can be recognised by the creamy stripe over their eye and the brilliant red patch underneath their wings.
Redwing - Graham Parry