Dungeness for Divers and more!! (1 Viewer)

[Original PaulE]

Went to Dungeness yesterday, what a day!!! In various places 500+ Red-throated Divers, Red-necked Grebe (armchair tick), Black-throated Diver, Great Northern Diver, Goldeneye, Marsh Harriers, Peregrines, Merlin, Bewick Swans, Bean, Pinkfoot and White-fronted Goose, Common and Velvet Scoter, Bearded Tits and much much more!!! Could have done with some sunshine but a fantastic day of winter birding, full details and loads more pics on the Blog at the link!! It's a bit of an epic read but was an epic day!!

The Divers of Dungeness!!

I have had a reasonable start to 2024, bit of local birding has gotten my list up to 66, but felt a proper birding trip was required, with ...

birdsandcake122.blogspot.com

Black-throated Diver

 

[THE_FERN]

Went to Dungeness yesterday, what a day!!! In various places 500+ Red-throated Divers, Red-necked Grebe (armchair tick), Black-throated Diver, Great Northern Diver, Goldeneye, Marsh Harriers, Peregrines, Merlin, Bewick Swans, Bean, Pinkfoot and White-fronted Goose, Common and Velvet Scoter, Bearded Tits and much much more!!! Could have done with some sunshine but a fantastic day of winter birding, full details and loads more pics on the Blog at the link!! It's a bit of an epic read but was an epic day!!

The Divers of Dungeness!!

I have had a reasonable start to 2024, bit of local birding has gotten my list up to 66, but felt a proper birding trip was required, with ...

birdsandcake122.blogspot.com

Black-throated Diver
View attachment 1554030

You've more than one red-necked grebe (3 I think), The wigeon are pintail (see top right bird, a male). Male wigeon have a big white wing flash.

Looks like a great day. I'm jealous

 

[Original PaulE]

You've more than one red-necked grebe (3 I think), The wigeon are pintail (see top right bird, a male). Male wigeon have a big white wing flash.

Looks like a great day. I'm jealous

Thanks for that, which pictures are the RNG in I'm struggling to find them!! Not seeing Pintail, can't turn the bird you indicate as a male, I thought female wigeon, would have thought they would look longer overall and have a thinner neck if they were Pintail. But been wrong in the past!!! Thanks for the post!!

 

[THE_FERN]

Thanks for that, which pictures are the RNG in I'm struggling to find them!! Not seeing Pintail, can't turn the bird you indicate as a male, I thought female wigeon, would have thought they would look longer overall and have a thinner neck if they were Pintail. But been wrong in the past!!! Thanks for the post!!

Sorry looked again: must be sleepy today. Agree wigeon on second look (male upper wings not visible).

The one with the grebes has title "grebes on the sea..." And the next one ("did you...") I think the left hand bird looks like clear rng. One of the 2 to right looks a bit like great crested but both it and the other bird look exactly the same size and shape as the rng. In the "did you spot it" these 3 all look smaller than the flying great crested. So 3 rng not 1 (think too big for e.g. slav)

 

[Original PaulE]

Sorry looked again: must be sleepy today. Agree wigeon on second look (male upper wings not visible).

The one with the grebes has title "grebes on the sea..." And the next one ("did you...") I think the left hand bird looks like clear rng. One of the 2 to right looks a bit like great crested but both it and the other bird look exactly the same size and shape as the rng. In the "did you spot it" these 3 all look smaller than the flying great crested. So 3 rng not 1 (think too big for e.g. slav)

Sorry, they are all the same bird!! GCG in front RNG behind should of made that clear!!! Sorry!!

 

[THE_FERN]

Sorry, they are all the same bird!! GCG in front RNG behind should of made that clear!!! Sorry!!

? There are at least 4 grebes in both pictures, unless you've made some kind of composite...

 

[Original PaulE]

? There are at least 4 grebes in both pictures, unless you've made some kind of composite...

Not a composite the pictures are a sequence from one burst of pictures so the birds in pic 1 are the same birds as in pic2 etc the first bird in flight is GCG the second bird in flight is RNG are you saying that the two Grebes on the sea to the right are RNG ? I had them all as GCG!! Though hadn't really grilled them, the bird at the back of the pair seems smaller now I've looked more closely but the rest look like GCG?

 

[THE_FERN]

Not a composite the pictures are a sequence from one burst of pictures so the birds in pic 1 are the same birds as in pic2 etc the first bird in flight is GCG the second bird in flight is RNG are you saying that the two Grebes on the sea to the right are RNG ? I had them all as GCG!! Though hadn't really grilled them, the bird at the back of the pair seems smaller now I've looked more closely but the rest look like GCG?

I'll leave it to you to ponder (looked twice, not looking currently). My first impression was that you had 3 rng, including a clear one on the left and 2 less obvious in the centre plus flying great crested grebe for a total of 4 birds in each picture

 

[Original PaulE]

I'll leave it to you to ponder (looked twice, not looking currently). My first impression was that you had 3 rng, including a clear one on the left and 2 less obvious in the centre plus flying great crested grebe for a total of 4 birds in each picture

Cheers!!

 

[Richard Prior]

Personally I’m struggling to see three Red n Grebe in the photos, it would be exceptional, as far as I can tell from Martin Casemore’s blog (Plodding Birder), they haven’t seen any so far this year.

 

[Original PaulE]

Personally I’m struggling to see three Red n Grebe in the photos, it would be exceptional, as far as I can tell from Martin Casemore’s blog (Plodding Birder), they haven’t seen any so far this year.

I have had the flying bird, confirmed as a Red-neck Grebe, I suspected it was from the the wing pattern, stocky build and dark neck and friends on FB confirmed my suspicions. to be honest I don't think the birds on the sea were RNG. There were Two guys in the hide, I was outside and didn't note the bird at the time, only saw it through the view finder of the camera and spotted it when I looked at it in the pics, so couldn't alert them, it is not noted on the Dunge blog for the day so presumably they missed it!