Trip reports

Field Meeting at Dungeness

Sunday, 14 October 2007

Dungeness was sunny with a light wind. Setting off from the Reserve Centre we saw Pochard, Wigeon, Gadwall and a few Pintail, as well as the regular Coot, Moorhen, Tufted Duck and Mallard, but not a great deal else. I opted for lunch on the beach near the "Patch" (an area of warm water from the power station outlet).
A few Gannets were plunge diving offshore and one or two Little Gulls were flying up and down the tide line feeding from the surface, but I missed the flock of Scoter that went by.
We put our empty lunch packs back in the cars and walked around the moat of the Observatory. En route we encountered plenty of Meadow Pipits and had very good views of Black Redstart sitting on fences, telephone wires and on the few houses in the area. Around the moat there were two or three Wheatears, one was very confiding giving very good views. After a frustrating wait, a few of us had good views of Firecrest.
Altogether 56 species were seen.