Sandwich Terns

Dengemarsh Gully - 0900hrs - mild, sunny, sw 3 - After a quick chat with Barney we decided on a change of scene and headed for the gully, one of his favourite haunts, as this gives him plenty of scope for a spot of rabbiting; but fear not dear reader as being a great big softie the bunnies come to no harm, they just look on and laugh before slinking into cover.
Anyhow, we parked up at Springfield Bridge where a Marsh Harrier was quartering the reedbed and walked the gully to the sea and back. It was pretty slow going with only single figures of Greenfinch, Linnet, Great Tit, Wren, Dunnock, Blackbird, Reed Bunting and Song Thrush in the gorse. At the far end three Stonechats perched on the fence line, a Meadow Pipit sang and a Raven flew over tussling with a pair of crows. A 20 minute gaze out to sea was notable for two Sandwich Terns, heading into Rye Bay, my first of the year.
As you can see from the pic below the Environment Agency have a pump in the sewer that`s running 24/7 to clear water directly into the sea. This is one of several such pumping operations they have in place across the Marsh to keep our feet dry and the farmland drained, quite apart from their regular winter time sea defence work. The EA have come in for a fair bit of stick elsewhere across southern England over recent months, but down here all their hard work certainly seems to have paid off.
On the way back home the Glossy Ibis was in a paddock near Cockles Bridge and the long-staying two Black-throated Divers were on New Diggings.

                                "Now, where did that rabbit go..."

                                Dengemarsh Gully

Lade - Not much change here with three Goldeneye and the Slavonian Grebe still on north lake. Several small tortoiseshells and a couple of red admirals were noted during the day.