Pale-shouldered Cloud

Lade - 0900hrs - warm, dry and sunny, ne 2 - With lighter winds and cloud cover a few more moths were in the trap this morning, but it was still poor fare with only 9 species of which Feathered Ranunculus was new for the season.

                                      Feathered Ranunculus, Lade

                                L-album Wainscot, Lade

Over the pits a few more migrants on show with singles figures of Wheatear, Whinchat and Stonechat. plus a steady flow of Swallows, Mipits and Yellow Wags overhead. Coot numbers had increased to an impressive 550 on south lake, along with 9 Wigeon. Two Greater peckers were in the willow swamp, plus 5 Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Lesser Whitethroat.
Checked the beach on an incoming tide but only a few Dunlin and Sanderling were still present.
Kerton Road Café - Trapped locally, and on show in the fridge, was the rare migrant from the south, Pale-shouldered Cloud. The first British record was from Dungeness in 1996 and there have been less than 20 since, so a pretty rare, if unimpressive beast.

                                Pale-shouldered Cloud, Dungeness