Good birding at Dungeness

Had a nice day at Dungeness with Rich, Dante and Niall. En route we stopped at Crayford, where a Mediterranean Gull was seen among the good numbers of congregated birds at Jolly Farmers.

Then it was down to a rather breezy Dungeness fishing boats, where the regular Caspian Gull was still performing well - this bird is easily the most photographed Casp in Britain this winter and has probably been seen by hundreds of birders since it turned up in September. Still, it's a very elegant individual and always worth photographing.

2cy Caspian Gull, Dungeness, 7 January 2018

Moving down to The Patch revealed thousands of gulls feeding around the outflow, although the light was challenging to say the least. Thankfully the regular juvenile Glaucous Gull performed well overhead, although the 3cy Iceland Gull was a little more difficult to pick out among the throng. An adult hybrid Black-headed x Mediterranean Gull was the first I've seen of this cross in Britain (I'd previously seen a couple in Ireland, both on the same weekend trip).

2cy Glaucous Gull, Dungeness, 7 January 2018

The RSPB reserve was somewhat devoid of gulls, yet the presence of a drake and redhead Smew, a female Ruddy Duck (my first in the UK for some years) and a bunch of Goosander were pleasant.

After a quick trip to Lade for some stodge from the local store it was back to the fishing boats, where Mick, Richard et al were photographing a very smart 3cy Caspian Gull on arrival. No hint of a p10 mirror, it was otherwise a very contrasted and crisp bird that was easily picked out from among the Herrings with the naked eye. It was blowing an absolute gale from the ENE, which made photography a real challenge given the position of the sun.

3cy Caspian Gull, Dungeness, 7 January 2018

With nothing else on show, I took some photographs of the gulls floating in the gale. There was evidently quite a lot of food washing up on the beach as the gulls were actively feeding ... and ignoring the less appetising loaves we were chucking out!

Day out at Dungeness 16/12

Had a good day out at Dungeness with Rich and Dante today. We had a six and a half Caspian Gulls - two first-winters (a really nice one and a less nice one), two third-winters and two adults plus a hybrid first-winter.

Most of these were scattered around Burrowes Pit at the RSPB reserve during the day, although the better of the two first-winters showed well near the fishing boats for a little while in the morning, albeit not long enough to really blow it away - but thanks to Martin for letting us know about it. Numbers were generally quite low around the fishing boats today, presumably due to the settled weather conditions.

First-winter Caspian Gull, Dungeness, Kent, 16 December 2017

I also managed a few photos of the hybrid, a bird that I assume is, as Rich would say, 'German muck'. At a distance it looked quite Casp-like but, on better views, clearly wasn't, looking much more like a Herring with some Caspian qualities at closer range. It's quite a washed out bird and, in flight, looks pretty Herring-like with a huge window on the inner primaries. Underwing was pale, being a latte colour.

Caspian x Herring Gull, Dungeness, Kent, 16 December 2017

It was otherwise a very pleasant, if cold, day's birding around the Dungeness peninsula. We enjoyed singles of Long-tailed Duck and Slavonian Grebe at Lade Pits, a pleasing 16 Bewick's Swans and a flyover Merlin from Cockles Bridge and Great Egret, two Ravens and six Goosanders on the RSPB reserve.

Dungeness Empidonax

A wet and windy afternoon at Dungeness watching a generally elusive Empidonax flycatcher - a truly stunning find for Martin Casemore that took everyone by surprise.

As always with these things, identification is some way from straightforward. General consensus seems to favour Acadian (E virescens) but, like the Blakeney Point Alder Flycatcher of 2010, different images seem to suggest different things. Compared to the Blakeney bird, the Dungeness Empid seems more green (rather than olive-grey) above, not too dissimilar to the upperpart colouration of e.g. Yellow-browed Warbler. Below it is somewhat yellower and, crucially, the bill is quite long and gives a downturned impression in some images thanks to a slightly hooked upper mandible (compared to straight/almost upturned in the Blakeney Alder). The dull light seems to inhibit these yellow tones showing so beware some photos where it looks greyer (and more Alder-like!) - just look at my shots below. At this point in time, Alder(/Willow) is considered to have been ruled out and the main emphasis of today's discussion, both across the internet and on site, referred to separating Yellow-bellied and Acadian, though a range of features seem to rule out the former.

A nice bird but one of those that, once the stress and adrenaline of the twitch subsides, you wish you'd spent a bit more time watching and had a bit more knowledge about at the time. That said, the weather was bloody grim this afternoon and I've had a nasty bout of flu since returning from Ireland on Sunday evening, so probably best not to have spent several hours in the wet.

Presumed Acadian Flycatcher, Dungeness, Kent, 22 September 2015