Thursday 22 March 2018

Three Target Species at Dungeness

15th March 2018

Time for my annual visit to Dungeness with No 2 son Stuart with three target species in mind. Our first stop was the lifeboat station to try and find our first target, a Black Redstart. Nothing obvious at first but I did manage a Meadow Pipit and an early Wheatear, which characteristically perched on a chimney.






We did eventually find the male redstart but it was very flighty and covered a large area, which was similar to the three Black Redstarts we found between West Beach and The Moat. So we saw our first target, but sadly no photographs.

Next stop was the fishing boats for our second target species, the Glaucous Gull, and here we faired much better seeing one fly in almost immediately and land on the shingle ridge. I have photographed Glaucous Gulls before and find them to be very approachable and this 1st winter bird allowed me to get within just 20 yards, almost filling the frame.








It then went for a little fly around, allowing even more shots to be taken. So our second target achieved with photographic evidence.










Now it was time to try and find our third target species, the Firecrest. There had been reports of five in the lighthouse garden, but viewing there is fairly restrictive, so we opted for the gorse from the car park to The Moat. It was soon apparent that, apart from three Dunnocks, the only birds occuping the gorse were Firecrests and so it was just a matter of waiting for the opportunity.

Because Firecrests are totally fearless and are totally unconcerned by your presence they will scuttle around in the gorse just a yard or so away. However, not much good for me with a minimum focus of 12 feet, so I had to keep my distance and wait for one to break cover and sit out in the open. So now we have achieved all three target species, but no photos of the Black Redstart.




















Time to move on to the RSPB reserve which was very quiet apart from this rather smart female Goldeneye. Not too surprisingly really as most of the winter visitors had already departed and the summer visitors had yet to arrive.


As we were walking back to the visitor centre a bird peered down from the tiled roof, just a head and shoulders view. The head was a totally plain pale grey and was reminiscent of a female Black Redstart. The bird disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, and it took a great deal of searching to eventually track it down, a female Black Redstart indeed showing down to just 10 yards.


















Even better when it perched on the lichen-covered tiles.








So what a successful day. Three target species, and all seen and photographed at close range. I've had worse days!!!




No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.