A trio of year ticks

Dungeness - 0715 - 1015hrs - warm, light airs, fog - Replacing the strong winds of recent weeks this morning we were plagued by fog, which made for limited visibility and restricted seawatching. A stop/start flow of Brents was noted plus a few Fulmars, Gannets, Whimbrels and Barwits. A couple of Med Gulls came and went and two Little Terns were new for year; also Sandwich Terns, Common Terns at the Patch and a couple of Swallows inbound. The land was quiet with a female Redstart in the lighthouse garden and a Tree Pipit over calling, which was also new for the year. Two Black Redstarts were in song on the power station and a singles of Chiffchaff, Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat elsewhere, plus Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and Curlew over.
An afternoon look at the sea from the boats yielded several Fulmars, Gannets, terns and gulls feeding offshore in the murk.

      "We`re going seawatching he says, but all I can see is fog, he`s lost the plot..."

Lade - Much clearer here with `loads` of Reed Warblers in the main reedbed, plus two Cuckoos and our first Hobby of the spring; cracking views too of what is surely everyones favourite raptor. A few Swallows over, two Yellow Wagtails and a soaring Buzzard completed a tidy hour on the local patch, but still not many Whitethroats on territory.