Lade - wet and windy - A dreadful day throughout with persistent heavy rain on a brisk south-westerly wind; the only saving grace is that its mild. The two regulars (Long-tailed Duck and Slavonian Grebe) remained on south lake and should be available for anyone attempting a NYD bird count tomorrow, although we may be deferring ours until Tuesday due the weather forecast.
Elsewhere around the peninsula there are the usual range of winter visitors including a handful of Bewick`s Swans in the fields near Lydd, gulls on Burrowes (an Iceland yesterday, per PB) but as yet a lack of any wild geese and Smew.
Good birding to one and all for 2018.
Sunday, 31 December 2017
Friday, 29 December 2017
More on lugworms
Dungeness Black Lug - Following on from yesterdays post regarding lugworms, and the lack of in Lade bay, I`ve been contacted by Dave Bunney from Dungeness. As many of you may well know Dave is well known in these parts as an ace finder of rare birds in and around his garden at South View (Bee-eater, Woodchat and Red-backed Shrikes, Radde`s and Melodious Warblers in 2017). He also dug/pumped for bait for over 30 years professionally, so knows a thing or two about these prized worms; I joined him out on the sands one afternoon about 10 years ago whilst researching for a Countryman magazine article, and I can confirm its damn hard graft.
However, according to Dave, numbers of Black Lug often decline during December - March, probably because of the cold weather, but no one really knows for sure why some years are worse than others, so maybe this winter is a random poor year, but he assures me that come the spring they will return in vast numbers. He went on to say that "millions" can get washed ashore following storms out at sea, whilst offshore fisherman have reported great bunches of worms being attached to anchors when dragged up, suggesting large populations in the sandy seabed of the Channel.
Apparently, `Pete the Bait` (no surname, no pack drill) is a glass half empty kinda guy, so maybe my gloomy prognosis was ill informed. Oh, and I learned something else too - Dave`s wife also dug bait alongside him for seven years!
Many thanks for the information on Black Lug Dave, and keep finding those rarities in the New Year.
However, according to Dave, numbers of Black Lug often decline during December - March, probably because of the cold weather, but no one really knows for sure why some years are worse than others, so maybe this winter is a random poor year, but he assures me that come the spring they will return in vast numbers. He went on to say that "millions" can get washed ashore following storms out at sea, whilst offshore fisherman have reported great bunches of worms being attached to anchors when dragged up, suggesting large populations in the sandy seabed of the Channel.
Apparently, `Pete the Bait` (no surname, no pack drill) is a glass half empty kinda guy, so maybe my gloomy prognosis was ill informed. Oh, and I learned something else too - Dave`s wife also dug bait alongside him for seven years!
Many thanks for the information on Black Lug Dave, and keep finding those rarities in the New Year.
Thursday, 28 December 2017
Where have all the lugworms gone?
Lade - cold and frosty - A cracking day to be out and about with bright winter sunshine and light airs, and looking at the forecast for the next few days, probably the best weather for a while. There was a steady trickle of birders throughout the morning paying homage to the wintering Long-tailed Duck and Slavonian Grebe, both of which were back on south lake along with half a dozen Goldeneyes and the usual common ducks and grebes. The Dartford Warbler was also reported in the gorse scrub beside the track, while we noted Green Woodpecker, Kestrel, Marsh Harrier, Cetti`s Warbler, Chiffchaff and Kingfisher across the site.
Lade sands without a bait digger in sight
We completed the circuit back along the beach scanning the vast expanse of mud for distant waders at low tide, but what struck me more than anything else was the absence of bait diggers pumping for lugworms, or black lug as they`re known locally. On a day like today you would normally expect to see anything up to 20 blokes (I`ve yet to see a lady) scattered across the sands, pump in hand towing their storage trolleys behind looking for all the world like Antarctic explorers.
Coincidently, back home I happened to bump into `Pete the Bait` one of the local pumpers and when asked about their absence said, "there ain`t any out there mate, had to go to Winchelsea beach last week, weren't many there either." He had no explanation for this apparent collapse in numbers of black lug.
Now, I`m no expert but if you`ve got 20 pumpers each taking an average of say 100 worms a tide (which is probably a conservative estimate), so around 2,000 daily or 14,000 a week that's` a lot of worms. And then of course, and quite rightly so, around a thousand Curlews and Oystercatchers will be hunting them on a double tide, that weekly figure could easily total 20,000 black lug extracted in one way or another from the bay. Please feel free to correct me if you think I`m over estimating the extraction rates.
So, Black Lugworm Arenicola defodiens is a finger-thick segmented marine worm (a bit like a fat earthworm) black in colour and can reach 10" long when mature and is highly prized as bait for fisherman, particularly if cod is your quarry. Such beasties can live for up to six years, are sexually mature at two and spend most of their lives in U-shaped burrowes under the sand.
When I suggested to `Pete the Bait` that perhaps the current extraction rates are unsustainable (pumping is far more efficient than digging by the way) he poo-hooed me and blamed the birds!
Whatever has caused the collapse in Lade Bay Black Lug numbers it sure ain`t the waders.
We completed the circuit back along the beach scanning the vast expanse of mud for distant waders at low tide, but what struck me more than anything else was the absence of bait diggers pumping for lugworms, or black lug as they`re known locally. On a day like today you would normally expect to see anything up to 20 blokes (I`ve yet to see a lady) scattered across the sands, pump in hand towing their storage trolleys behind looking for all the world like Antarctic explorers.
Coincidently, back home I happened to bump into `Pete the Bait` one of the local pumpers and when asked about their absence said, "there ain`t any out there mate, had to go to Winchelsea beach last week, weren't many there either." He had no explanation for this apparent collapse in numbers of black lug.
Now, I`m no expert but if you`ve got 20 pumpers each taking an average of say 100 worms a tide (which is probably a conservative estimate), so around 2,000 daily or 14,000 a week that's` a lot of worms. And then of course, and quite rightly so, around a thousand Curlews and Oystercatchers will be hunting them on a double tide, that weekly figure could easily total 20,000 black lug extracted in one way or another from the bay. Please feel free to correct me if you think I`m over estimating the extraction rates.
So, Black Lugworm Arenicola defodiens is a finger-thick segmented marine worm (a bit like a fat earthworm) black in colour and can reach 10" long when mature and is highly prized as bait for fisherman, particularly if cod is your quarry. Such beasties can live for up to six years, are sexually mature at two and spend most of their lives in U-shaped burrowes under the sand.
When I suggested to `Pete the Bait` that perhaps the current extraction rates are unsustainable (pumping is far more efficient than digging by the way) he poo-hooed me and blamed the birds!
Whatever has caused the collapse in Lade Bay Black Lug numbers it sure ain`t the waders.
Wednesday, 27 December 2017
Memories of 2017
Lade - These past few days have seen indifferent weather conditions across the peninsula from mild and cloudy on Monday with gale force winds, to bright and sunny yesterday morning, followed by downright foul conditions today with heavy rain and a scudding wind out of the north-west. We continued our daily circuits around the local patch with some success, despite the spectre of the dreaded C word season (now, thankfully receding well and truly behind us). However, the Long-tailed Duck had decamped to north lake, while the Slavonian Grebe could be seen just about anywhere, but mostly at the southern end of south lake. Several Goosanders came and went while up to 12 Goldeneyes were present. Yesterday was particularly productive in the brief period of sunshine and light airs with a male Dartford Warbler calling and briefly perching atop the gorse by the aerial. Kingfisher, Bittern, Cetti`s Warbler, Marsh Harrier and Water Rails all put in an appearance around the site.
Review of 2017
Living in one of the best locations in the country for birding does spoil one somewhat and during the course of a year being out and about in the field on a near daily basis you can rattle up one or two species. Now, I`m not much of a lister (219 species this year) or a twitcher (Lesser legs, Woodchat Shrike, Hume`s Warbler and Squacco Heron all seen locally this year), but am a sucker for an `event`. By that I mean, for example, large movements of migrants, close views of seabirds, finding something decent on the local patch or maybe an unusual piece of behaviour.
The first winter period produced many memorable days around the peninsula with such delights as Polar gulls, wild geese and swans, scarce grebes and ducks, raptors and owls, but the stand out event wasn't even on the Marsh, it was one cold afternoon on the Leas in Folkestone with my seven year old grandson watching a Starling murmuration. We arrived an hour before sunset and it wasn't long before the first birds appeared flying along the cliffs, gradually gathering strength until a swirling mass of around ten thousand moved as one unit in an aerial ballet up and down the Leas and over the town in the setting sun. An accompanying rush of wings and chattering only added to the spectacle just before they descended in silence to roost in the grounds of the Grand Hotel and adjacent park trees. Magnificent stuff indeed.
Spring at Dungeness is a much anticipated season and while, its true, many of our summer migrants such as Turtle Dove, Tree Pipit and Cuckoo have massively declined in my life time, there are always days to remember, and none more so than during late April, my favourite period of the year. On the land spring falls are now few and far between, so when hundreds of Willow Warblers and Blackcaps dropped in one morning, along with a scattering of Redstarts and Whinchats it was a reminder of what used to happen on far more regular basis only half a century ago.
But it was the sea that stole the show on the 29th with anything up to ten thousand Commic Terns streaming through, followed the next day by a passage of skuas, divers and scoters. Settling down in the shelter of the fishing boats we were treated to some of the closest views many of us could remember of flocks of Pomarine, Arctic and Great Skuas, plus a supporting cast of summer plumage Black-throated Diver, Little Gull, Velvet Scoter and Black Tern.
On the local patch at Lade a Grasshopper Warbler was only my second record followed by a single sighting of a Night Heron, but the main event was a pair of Black-necked Grebes that settled down to nest, eventually fledging two young to flying stage. Cuckoos continued to breed in the reed beds, parasitising the numerous Reed Warblers.
Due to low water levels on the RSPB reserve there many memorable wader days, particularly with Arctic waders such as Curlew Sandpiper and Dunlin in July, comprising mostly adult birds in nuptial plumage. Scarce Pectoral Sandpiper, Dotterel and Little Stints all added to the variety of waders on offer.
Once again the autumn period on the land was something of a disappointment by Dungeness standards. However, there were some quality birds with the likes of Red-backed Shrikes, Yellow-browed Warblers, a trapped Hume`s Warbler and an elusive Radde`s Warbler, but on the whole numbers of many migrants were low.
One event that does stick in the memory though concerned House Martins one October morning when thousands were held up in fog around the lighthouse and power station, swarming like gnats, before eventually heading south once the weather lifted. Unfortunately, the main birding event of the autumn, an unprecedented irruption of Hawfinches into central and southern England largely passed us by.
What 2018 has in store for us only time will tell.
Review of 2017
Living in one of the best locations in the country for birding does spoil one somewhat and during the course of a year being out and about in the field on a near daily basis you can rattle up one or two species. Now, I`m not much of a lister (219 species this year) or a twitcher (Lesser legs, Woodchat Shrike, Hume`s Warbler and Squacco Heron all seen locally this year), but am a sucker for an `event`. By that I mean, for example, large movements of migrants, close views of seabirds, finding something decent on the local patch or maybe an unusual piece of behaviour.
The first winter period produced many memorable days around the peninsula with such delights as Polar gulls, wild geese and swans, scarce grebes and ducks, raptors and owls, but the stand out event wasn't even on the Marsh, it was one cold afternoon on the Leas in Folkestone with my seven year old grandson watching a Starling murmuration. We arrived an hour before sunset and it wasn't long before the first birds appeared flying along the cliffs, gradually gathering strength until a swirling mass of around ten thousand moved as one unit in an aerial ballet up and down the Leas and over the town in the setting sun. An accompanying rush of wings and chattering only added to the spectacle just before they descended in silence to roost in the grounds of the Grand Hotel and adjacent park trees. Magnificent stuff indeed.
Spring at Dungeness is a much anticipated season and while, its true, many of our summer migrants such as Turtle Dove, Tree Pipit and Cuckoo have massively declined in my life time, there are always days to remember, and none more so than during late April, my favourite period of the year. On the land spring falls are now few and far between, so when hundreds of Willow Warblers and Blackcaps dropped in one morning, along with a scattering of Redstarts and Whinchats it was a reminder of what used to happen on far more regular basis only half a century ago.
But it was the sea that stole the show on the 29th with anything up to ten thousand Commic Terns streaming through, followed the next day by a passage of skuas, divers and scoters. Settling down in the shelter of the fishing boats we were treated to some of the closest views many of us could remember of flocks of Pomarine, Arctic and Great Skuas, plus a supporting cast of summer plumage Black-throated Diver, Little Gull, Velvet Scoter and Black Tern.
On the local patch at Lade a Grasshopper Warbler was only my second record followed by a single sighting of a Night Heron, but the main event was a pair of Black-necked Grebes that settled down to nest, eventually fledging two young to flying stage. Cuckoos continued to breed in the reed beds, parasitising the numerous Reed Warblers.
Due to low water levels on the RSPB reserve there many memorable wader days, particularly with Arctic waders such as Curlew Sandpiper and Dunlin in July, comprising mostly adult birds in nuptial plumage. Scarce Pectoral Sandpiper, Dotterel and Little Stints all added to the variety of waders on offer.
Once again the autumn period on the land was something of a disappointment by Dungeness standards. However, there were some quality birds with the likes of Red-backed Shrikes, Yellow-browed Warblers, a trapped Hume`s Warbler and an elusive Radde`s Warbler, but on the whole numbers of many migrants were low.
One event that does stick in the memory though concerned House Martins one October morning when thousands were held up in fog around the lighthouse and power station, swarming like gnats, before eventually heading south once the weather lifted. Unfortunately, the main birding event of the autumn, an unprecedented irruption of Hawfinches into central and southern England largely passed us by.
What 2018 has in store for us only time will tell.
Sunday, 24 December 2017
Gulls again
Dungeness -mild, cloudy, w 3 - 1100hrs - Gulls do tend to split birders into two camps; a bit like Marmite, you either I love `em or loathe `em. Personally, I`ve not got much love for Herring Gulls as living along the coast the buggers are a nightmare in spring and summer, crapping everywhere, screaming from roof-top nest sites and general dishing out grief to all and sundry. As for the rest of the tribe, Caspian and Yellow-legs, I can take `em or leave `em, although the former are growing on me.
However, `proper` gulls are a different matter, particularly those from the polar regions, and they don't come much more spectacular than the Glaucous Gull, a great brute of a bird and highly entertaining as it goes about bullying its relatives, so it was good to watch a first winter bird in action along the foreshore by the fishing boats this morning.
1st winter Caspian Gull
1st winter Glaucous Gull
Lade - No real change here with the Long-tailed Duck still distant and continually diving on south lake, while the Slavonian Grebe had moved to north lake along with two Goosanders.
However, `proper` gulls are a different matter, particularly those from the polar regions, and they don't come much more spectacular than the Glaucous Gull, a great brute of a bird and highly entertaining as it goes about bullying its relatives, so it was good to watch a first winter bird in action along the foreshore by the fishing boats this morning.
Lade - No real change here with the Long-tailed Duck still distant and continually diving on south lake, while the Slavonian Grebe had moved to north lake along with two Goosanders.
Saturday, 23 December 2017
Glaucous Gull
Dungeness - mild, cloudy, w 3 - Yesterday`s Glaucous Gull remained along the foreshore ranging from the lifeboat station to the power station, but mostly around the fishing boats at high tide, where also a 1st winter and an adult Caspian Gull on the beach. Offshore hundreds of Great Crested Grebes on the sea along with scores of Guillemots, Kittiwakes and Red-throated Divers.
Scotney- We joined CP for a check of the pits this morning. On the front fields the usual feral Barnacle Goose flock was present but there was little else of note on the roadside lakes apart from 50 Shelducks at the Sussex end and a few Redshanks. Through the farm yard and a Black Redstart was surprise hunting insects on a log pile by the farmhouse.
Outback hundreds of Lapwing, Golden Plover and Wigeon on the fields and around the lakes. Also noted a Great White Egret, Common Buzzard and Marsh Harrier. We walked out to the game cover, by the dung heap, where small numbers of Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Reed Bunting, Song Thrush and Goldfinch present plus a Brown Hare, something of a scarcity these days.
Scotney- We joined CP for a check of the pits this morning. On the front fields the usual feral Barnacle Goose flock was present but there was little else of note on the roadside lakes apart from 50 Shelducks at the Sussex end and a few Redshanks. Through the farm yard and a Black Redstart was surprise hunting insects on a log pile by the farmhouse.
Outback hundreds of Lapwing, Golden Plover and Wigeon on the fields and around the lakes. Also noted a Great White Egret, Common Buzzard and Marsh Harrier. We walked out to the game cover, by the dung heap, where small numbers of Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Reed Bunting, Song Thrush and Goldfinch present plus a Brown Hare, something of a scarcity these days.
Friday, 22 December 2017
Solstice past
These past few days must`ve been difficult for anyone suffering from so-called `Seasonally Affective Disorder` with a bare eight hours of `daylight` rarely raising the luminosity above the candela of a constipated glow worm! Personally I`m not too bothered by the winter gloom; just work around it, keep busy and look forward to the increasing daylight. However, I do suffer from what I refer to as `Christmas Affective Disorder`, so a double whammy for many I suspect at this time of year.
Last night we went to a Solstice gathering at Greatstone (nothing sinister, no dancing around the Lade `mirrors`, just a meal and a drink with a few kindred spirits) and it was good to know that I`m not alone. Happy smiling folk just enjoying ourselves and trying to come to terms with the juggernaut that is Christmas, a kind of group therapy for fellow sufferers.
Its the excess that really winds me up, ships bringing in unnecessary crap to flog in pound shops - you know sort of things: inflatable plastic Santas, spray cans of artificial snow, tinsel and baubles, the list is endless, all made in Far Eastern sweatshops with no regard for the environment and shipped to the West in giant, polluting container ships.
And, worst of all there`s the food, mountains of it stuffed in every shop you go in, much of which will be wasted: chocolates, biscuits, millions of battery-reared turkeys, and with half the population over weight, more indulgence we can well do without.
I could go on, but I`m sure you know the drill...
Dungeness - mild, cloudy, light airs - Anyhow, it was much better weather wise today with the sun even poking through the clouds at times. At the point at least one of the Dartford Warblers showed briefly in scrub by the Britannia pub, alongside a couple of Stonechats. A walk down to the pines and Tower pits on the bird reserve delivered plenty of Long-tailed Tits, Blackbirds, a Great Spotted Woodpecker and several Chiffchaffs. ARC was packed out with wildfowl and waders, mostly Lapwings and dabbling ducks, but also three Ruff, a couple of Snipe and two redhead Goosanders. The Bewick`s Swans were still in the field opposite Cockles Bridge.
Lade - It was good to meet James on site this morning, a keen young birder from Sevenoaks, along with his father Stuart, and show them the wintering Slavonian Grebe and Long-tailed Duck. His excitement at seeing a first ever Slav Grebe was a joy to behold, the sheer enthusiasm and exuberance of youth, what a marvellous elixir for a hoary old cynic like myself.
There was also a good showing of up to 10 Goldeneyes on the lake, plus 200 roosting Common Gulls. A Peregrine caused panic amongst the gulls and Starlings along the coastal strip and James found a Dartford Warbler in scrub near the tunnel which was still present late afternoon, plus a Stonechat and Goldcrest. A day to remember, I reckon, for a highly able teenage birder.
Last night we went to a Solstice gathering at Greatstone (nothing sinister, no dancing around the Lade `mirrors`, just a meal and a drink with a few kindred spirits) and it was good to know that I`m not alone. Happy smiling folk just enjoying ourselves and trying to come to terms with the juggernaut that is Christmas, a kind of group therapy for fellow sufferers.
Its the excess that really winds me up, ships bringing in unnecessary crap to flog in pound shops - you know sort of things: inflatable plastic Santas, spray cans of artificial snow, tinsel and baubles, the list is endless, all made in Far Eastern sweatshops with no regard for the environment and shipped to the West in giant, polluting container ships.
And, worst of all there`s the food, mountains of it stuffed in every shop you go in, much of which will be wasted: chocolates, biscuits, millions of battery-reared turkeys, and with half the population over weight, more indulgence we can well do without.
I could go on, but I`m sure you know the drill...
Dungeness - mild, cloudy, light airs - Anyhow, it was much better weather wise today with the sun even poking through the clouds at times. At the point at least one of the Dartford Warblers showed briefly in scrub by the Britannia pub, alongside a couple of Stonechats. A walk down to the pines and Tower pits on the bird reserve delivered plenty of Long-tailed Tits, Blackbirds, a Great Spotted Woodpecker and several Chiffchaffs. ARC was packed out with wildfowl and waders, mostly Lapwings and dabbling ducks, but also three Ruff, a couple of Snipe and two redhead Goosanders. The Bewick`s Swans were still in the field opposite Cockles Bridge.
Lade - It was good to meet James on site this morning, a keen young birder from Sevenoaks, along with his father Stuart, and show them the wintering Slavonian Grebe and Long-tailed Duck. His excitement at seeing a first ever Slav Grebe was a joy to behold, the sheer enthusiasm and exuberance of youth, what a marvellous elixir for a hoary old cynic like myself.
There was also a good showing of up to 10 Goldeneyes on the lake, plus 200 roosting Common Gulls. A Peregrine caused panic amongst the gulls and Starlings along the coastal strip and James found a Dartford Warbler in scrub near the tunnel which was still present late afternoon, plus a Stonechat and Goldcrest. A day to remember, I reckon, for a highly able teenage birder.
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