Lade warblers and Wheatears

Lade - 0700hrs - cool, sunny, sw 2 - A foggy night with the Dungeness fog horn clearly audible into the early morning. Once the sun broke through though it turned into a spanking sunny day tempered by a breeze from the south. Crossing the shingle towards south lake a `booming` Bittern could  clearly be heard drifting across from Tower Pits. The main change today was the overnight arrival of acrocephalus warblers with Sedges all over the place and the first Reed Warbler in the main reedbed. Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Whitethroat and Blackcap also noted, plus five Swallows.


             

                                Lade Desert, 0715hrs

                                Lade Desert, 0730hrs

This morning a Hoopoe was seen flying towards the Tower Pits from Boulderwall (SB). Just in case it had overshot the mark we checked the shingle ridges out on the Desert this afternoon, but there was no sign. However, ample compensation was provided by a nice little flock of eight Wheatears and two Stonechats. So in an effort to ramp up my Wheatear credentials for a certain Surrey blogger, here are a few pics.

                               Wheatears, Lade Desert