Beautiful Marbled

Lade - warm, dry, cloudy, showers overnight, sw 2 - At 04.30hrs I staggered outside in a heavy rain shower to cover up the moth trap to protect the catch from the local spadgers. A casual glance into the trap revealed a small purplish moth and as I threw a towel over the top and staggered back to bed in a daze I began to ponder its identity.
  Several hours later I went through the trap recording Oak Eggar and Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, new for the year, and there on the final egg box was the unfamiliar purple moth. In my 1st edition Lewington guide Purple Marbled was the only moth that came close to it, but it certainly wasn't that, and I couldn't find anything to fit-the-bill in the new micro-moth guide.
  However, a trip to the Kerton Road Café soon cleared up the mystery, as there in the 2nd edition Lewington was our moth: Beautiful Marbled, a rare immigrant and only the 3rd for the Dungeness recording area. Thanks to DB and SC for confirmation and stats.
  The overnight rain had also grounded some waders on the local patch with six Common and two Green Sandpipers around the margins, plus Ruff and Greenshank on south lake island. Best of all though was a party of 16 Whimbrels overhead calling wildly and several more Greenshanks. Whilst counting the Curlews to roost on the Desert, amongst the 190 were four Whimbrels and three Bar-wits. At least 12 Little Egrets were fishing around the willow swamp.

                                Beautiful Marbled, a rare immigrant from central Europe

                                Little Egrets, Lade

Dungeness - A late morning visit to the bird reserve revealed many more passage sandpipers and shanks around the site including Wood and Curlew Sandpiper, plus Ruff, Blackwit and Snipe.