Ring Ouzel & Gannets

Lade - 0900hrs - mild, sunny, sw 5 - A blustery morning but at least it remained dry. All the usual wildfowl and grebes on the lakes plus several Chiffchaffs in the willow scrub and a Siskin overhead. As we walked back from the causeway a Ring Ouzel flew over from the airport scrub and promptly dived back into cover. Along the ponds three species of dragonflies on the wing in the warm sunshine and a dead Grass Snake on the shingle.
A short drive down to the Varne on an incoming tide delivered improved views of Grey Plovers, Barwits, plus Turnstones, Knots and Sanderlings.

                                Migrant Hawker, Lade

Dungeness - Finished off with Matt and Cathryn back at the fishing boats for an hour long seawatch which produced 200 Gannets (many of them close to shore) and 30 Sandwich Terns down-Channel, plus two Arctic Skuas harrying the terns, 20 Swallows outbound and 50 coasting Goldfinches.
In summary a decent weekends birding for our guests during which we clocked up 103 species with the undoubted highlight the Jack Snipe.

                                Arctic Skua, Dungeness

                                Gannet & gull, Dungeness

ARC - 1400hrs - On the way back from Ashford called in at Hanson hide where the Glossy Ibis  showed well, plus Curlew Sandpiper, Ruff, 2 Blackwits, 3 Grey Plovers and 10 Dunlins amongst several hundred Goldies and Lapwings. A Water Rail dashed between cover and several Chiffchaffs called from the willows.