RSPB Dungeness. Glossy Ibis. 09.04.22
On Saturday 09.04.22, I went to RSPB Dungeness in order to survey bumblebees as pat of a Bumblebee Conservation Trust's Short-haired bumblebee reintroduction project.
I reached RSPB Dungeness by train an bus. (Train from Brighton to Eastbourne then Eastbourne to Rye, then 102 Stagecoach bus to Dover from Rye Station, getting off at RSPB Dungeness access road. Stagecoach's timetable gives the impression that there is a 202 bus from Rye to Lydd, and then another bus to Dover from Lydd, but it is in fact the same bus. There is no official bus stop at RSPB Dungeness but the drivers will drop you off there if you ask. It is a 1hr 45min train trop from Brighton to Rye, and runs hourly. It is a 40 minute bus journey from Rye to Dungeness, and also runs hourly. It is a mile walk from the entrance road to the visitors' centre at RSPB Dungeness.
I bird watched from 9.40 to 10.15; surveyed bumblebees from 10.30 to 15.00 and then bird watched from 15.00-17.00
Morning
At the beginning of the access road, there were five Glossy Ibis; there were mostly three together and another two together
Glossy Ibis plus a Coot
Cattle Egret in the background, beyond them Lydd Ranges (MoD shooting ranges)
Canada Geese
Glossy Ibis and Coot
Three Glossy Ibis and a Coot
Greylag Goose
Dead Grass Snake. Probably predated by a raptor, possibly a Marsh Harrier, and dropped before eating. Grass Snakes emit a foul-smelling pheromone from their anal gland to deter predators. Grass snake - Grass snakes and humans | Young People's Trust For the Environment (ypte.org.uk)
A fox jaw bone
Afternoon (from 15.00)
A male Gadwall and a Shelduck
A male and female Shoveler and an Oystercatcher
Dungeness nuclear power stations, and gulls and Cormorants.
Detail: Great Black-Backed Gulls and Herring Gulls
Redshank
Romney sheep and lamb, conservation grazing
Greylag Goose
Shelduck and Teal
Great Crested Grebe
Marsh Harrier
Lesser Black-Backed Gull and Herring Gulls
Glossy Ibis again
