A Southerly Airflow

Dungeness 0545-0730hrs - warm, early showers, sunny later, se2 - Had to give the sea a go, what with a southerly airflow and a bit of rain (first for ages). Pretty quiet really, apart from 5 close Poms and an Arctic Skua (must`ve seen over 50 Poms this spring so far). A steady flow of Common, a few Arctics, 2 Blacks and a Little Tern, Common and 2 Velvet Scoters, 2 Shovelers, 10 Fulmars, 20 Barwits, 6 Sanderling, 4 Grey Plovers, 1 Curlew and 100 Gannets. On the land the rain had freshened things up with plenty of bird song, including a Reed Warbler in the lighthouse garden.
Plovers -A good catch in the trap last night including the first White Spot, Buff-tip and Angle Shades of the year. White Spot is something of a Dungeness speciality being a moth of coastal shingle beaches. The larvae feed at night on Nottingham Catchfly and hide amongst ground cover during the day.

                                          White Spot, Plovers

RSPB - 1100hrs A circuit here produced very little apart from `booming` Bittern and `pinging` Beardies from the ramp. A `ringtail` was also on site.

                                          Common Tern, Dengemarsh - looking for a raft...