Monday 20 June 2011

Bearded Tits

Lade - 0600hrs - cloudy, drizzle, se1 - The strong wind finally slackened off around 9pm last night and when I went outside to turn the moth trap on a couple of small bats were already hunting around the leylandiis. A goodish catch with first Wormwood Pug and Cypress Carpets of the season. The latter species was first recorded on Dungeness in 1999 as an alien, but now breeds locally and regularly comes to light.
Dungeness - 0900hrs Walked down to the Patch where a single Med Gull was the only bird of note; sadly though, several oiled gulls on the beach suggested some kind of spill out in the Channel. Also, singing Black Redstart on the power station and Mipit feeding young.
RSPB - 1000hrs The female Goosander was still at the southern end of ARC amongst the Pochards. Strolled down to the ramp where several glum-faced twitchers said it all - the Squacco had not been seen this morning. "Never mind lads", I said, "the rain has stopped, the sun`s out and more importantly there`s only a light zephyr rustling the reeds" (no reaction). "Travelled far, have you?" (an open question was sure to elicit a retort). "Midlands". Oh dear, I thought, better tread carefully... Anyhow, over the next hour or so the GWE showed on Dengemarsh, Hobbies zipped overhead, Marsh Harriers food-passed in mid air, a Cetti`s Warbler sat out in the open (and showed for all of 10 seconds), a couple of Med Gulls flew over and best of all Bearded Tits (fledged juvs included) were `pinging` everywhere. Beardies are not easy here; for a start off there aren`t many of them (20ish or so pairs) and the reed bed is huge and often battered by strong winds. But on this fine, still Dunge morning the world and his wife was up and showing off.
Tried to get the Brummies excited by the Reedlings but failed, I even mentioned the Glaucous Gull on the point and Goosander on ARC, but all to no avail, the poor chaps were really down in the dumps. I just hope they saw the Spoonbill, in the afternoon, as some compensation, or the heron made a late show...
                                         Cypress Carpet, Plovers

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