Dungeness Nature Reserve Bulletin

1 September 2008

Bird news (August 2008)

One of the many highlights in August was the arrival of two common cranes on the 23rd. These birds are rare visitors to Dungeness and most previous sightings have been of cranes flying over the reserve whereas our two visitors decided to stick around for a few days. They proved to be quite a talking point and provided many happy visitors with wonderful sights and sounds, thanks to their dancing displays and trumpeting calls. With a bit of luck they will stay on the reserve for the foreseeable future.

Dancing cranes by Bob Gomes

Another rare visitor this month was a cattle egret on the 17th. True to its name, the bird was spotted in a field full of cattle by the entrance to the reserve. With only two previous sightings recorded in the area, a lucky few got a good look at this bird before it moved on.

At least three ospreys were seen flying over the reserve on their migration towards Africa whilst two honey buzzards were seen on 30th and one on 31st.

A wide variety of waders were seen throughout the month with twenty-four different species coming from a mixture of resident and migrant birds. This included good numbers of snipe, black-tailed godwits and common and green sandpipers. Up to two wood sandpipers were seen regularly at the ARC pit along with the occasional little stint. A splendid spotted redshank spent several days feeding right in front of the hide there along with a similarly confiding greenshank. On the 30th, a solitary Temminck’s stint was seen near Hooker’s pits.

Greenshank by Bob Gomes

On the last day of the month another unusual visitor appeared in the shape of a white-winged black tern. It was first sighted flying past Hide 1 but subsequently proved quite elusive until found at the ARC pit late in the afternoon. Other seabirds of note included an Arctic skua (17th), up to two black terns and three little gulls on several dates.

From mid-month passerine passage became obvious with good numbers of yellow wagtails, wheatears and common and lesser whitethroats passing through. A single whinchat was seen on 26th and five on 30th. Also of note were spotted flycatchers on three dates and a pied flycatcher in Dengemarsh gully on 30th.

Management news

Much of the reserve management work carried out during August was part of our on-going programme of grassland maintenance and development. Grazing by sheep and cattle as well as mowing keeps these areas in the optimum condition both for birds as well as invertebrates. We have gathered more seeds of red clover and tufted vetch to spread to other suitable sites on the reserve. Cattle have also been used for the first time to graze the margins of the Cladium pit, one of the natural pits on the reserve. This pit contains very varied and important fen-type plant communities and the grazing (for just a couple of days) has kept the area open to encourage the spread of these plants as well as to stop reed encroachment. More willow has been removed from the ARC site, along the path to the Hanson-ARC hide. At the end of the month, we started building up islands in front of Dengemarsh hide – the ones that are there haven’t shown above the surface for a while due to high water levels.

Other wildlife
The moth event of the month was the finding of a rosy underwing, a much rarer relative of the red underwing. This was only the second Dungeness and Kent record and the eighth UK record.

Rosy Underwing by Phil Beraet

RSPB Dungeness Nature Reserve

Tel: 01797 320588

mail: dungeness@rspb.org.uk