Dungeness RSPB - warm, dry and cloudy, NE4 - A guided walk around the circular trail this morning for five guests commenced in some style when an Osprey flew over Burrowes, flushing the terns and wildfowl, before flying over towards the Long Pits where it gave distant views for about 20 minutes. A juvenile Little Stint from Firth lookout was the best of the waders during the circuit which also included Ringed Plover, Redshank, Common Sandpiper, Black-tailed Godwit and 20 Lapwings. Common Tern numbers were well down with most of the adults having already departed leaving the juveniles to fend for themselves. At Dengemarsh the guests enjoyed cracking views of a female Marsh Harrier, three Great White Egrets and the usual selection of feral geese and gulls, plus parties of Sand Martins moving through. Four Cattle Egrets were in Boulderwall fields while another Little Stint, a Greenshank and four Ruff were on ARC from Hanson hide.
Yesterday, together with the Apprentice Birder (my 15 year old grandson), we helped out at the RSPB family day event doing moths and pond dipping. With the brisk north-easterly wind supressing moth numbers locally we were fortunate to have the contents of several local traps from across the Marsh; thanks are in order to Chris, Jacob, Dorothy, Richard, John and Martin for running their traps and delivering the goods. Trevor who was organising the pond-dipping had caught a Water Spider, a fascinating creature and a first for me. Thanks also to Graham Parry for sending through his superb pic of the Fan-tailed Warbler sat atop a post on Monday; the bird was still present at Galloways earlier today (per SM).
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