Friday 28 June 2013

Scoters & Rare Moths

Lade - 0600hrs - mild, cloudy, rain, sw 2 - A reduced overnight catch in the moth trap due to the weather, although Bird`s Wing was new for the year.
Dungeness - An hour long seawatch from the concrete road yielded feeding parties of Gannets, Sandwich and Common Terns, Kittiwakes and a flock of 21 Common Scoters up-Channel. A few Swifts came inland and a pair of Ringed Plovers confirmed breeding with at least one juv noted.
Kerton Road Café - A steady flow of mo`thers headed to the café to admire two cracking, rare migrant moths in the shape of a locally trapped Purple Marbled and a Portland Ribbon Wave from Ruckinge. Both were photographed in situ as they were awaiting the attention of the Moth Lord.
The café gardens is the national hot-spot for the delightfully named Stinking Hawksbeard, a species that went extinct in 1980 only to be rediscovered here at the café where it flourishes under the stewardship of the owners.

                                   Purple Marbled, KRC

                                          Bird`s Wing, Plovers

                                          Common Terns, Dengemarsh

                                Portland Ribbon Wave, KRC

                                Stinking Hawksbeard, KRC

Dengemarsh - 1400hrs - A circuit of the marsh in the rain delivered good views of Marsh Harriers, a brief glimpse of a Bittern, 3 Ravens and fly over Blackwit and Curlews. The lake was full of feral gees and swans, plus eclipse ducks, while on the tern rafts at least 10 well grown Common Tern chicks were being regularly fed by adults; the Common Gull on the third raft also had chicks. Also noted Cuckoo, Hobby, Little Egret and Kestrel. The hayfields are now deserted, dry, covered in long grass and totally unsuitable for passage waders.

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