Cool and cloudy, SW5 - Another breezy day across Dungeness with yet again the much-needed rain showers missing us. From Hanson hide two pairs of Avocets on the islands looked fed up and showed no signs of going down again to nest. Otherwise, apart from loads of eclipse wildfowl, two Common Terns, six Black-headed Gulls and a Ringed Plover the main interest was aerial with hundreds of Swifts and hirundines over the water along with three Hobbies and a distant 1st summer Little Gull. At the pines a Cuckoo flew over and two more Hobbies were slumped on the Desert shingle waiting for the temperature to pick up and bring forth flying insects. Along the main track another half dozen Hobbies were noted, including one bird close to the road (below) on the pebbles. From the visitor centre the islands on Burrowes delivered eight smart Tundra Ringed Plovers amongst the gulls and a few Common Terns while two more immature Little Gulls were at the southern end feeding alongside Black-headed Gulls, Swifts and hirundines. It was a treat to see that (at long last!) the Sand Martins have `discovered` their purpose built wall on the bund below Dennis`s hide where there was a constant toing and froing from the adults bringing in food with several little heads poking out of holes begging to be fed. Great stuff!
Elsewhere this week our Ted walks took us to Galloways on a sunny Monday morning as no live firing was taking place. The dry scrub either side of the road was alive with nesting activity from various Stonechats, Linnets, Common Whitethroats, Dunnocks and a Dartford Warbler, while the damp grasslands attracted one or two pairs each of Skylark. Meadow Pipit, Reed Bunting, Sedge and Cetti`s Warblers. Visits to Lade yielded very little of note apart from continuing Cuckoo presence and both Little and Great Crested Grebes with fledglings on the water. I searched in vain for any orchids, but the grasslands where they normally grow are as dry-as-a-bone..
No comments:
Post a Comment