Slow Thaw

Lade - 0900hrs - cold, grey, 2C, a slow thaw - Wildfowl wise much the same as yesterday, although an increase in Teal numbers to over 200. Some of the Common Gulls on the ice didn`t look in great shape and further down by the ponds found a moribund individual under a bush;  two foxes sitting on the edge of the ice looked ready to mop up. Flushed a Woodcock from cover by the ponds and a flock of 15 Lottis was a nice surprise.
Dungeness - 1430hrs - An hour from the seawatch hide produced very little apart from a few grebes, auks and Kitts, plus a couple of hundred Black-headed Gulls over the Patch. The most exciting thing was watching two blokes in bosun's chairs atop the new lighthouse.

                                          Lade - south pit

                                          Dungeness Lighthouses