Lade - 0700hrs, cool, dry and sunny w2 - Remained cool overnight so not a great trap, although first Privet Hawk and Scalloped Oak of the season. Over the pits located a pair of Ringed Plovers with 3 well grown chicks. Watched as they dealt with a crow attack. The male led them away with the old broken wing display while she chivvied the juvs to the safety of a broom-clad ridge; at one point they were about 100m apart. Anyhow, the strategy worked and it was happy families again once the crows had departed. It does amaze me how these plucky little plovers replace their numbers, what with the odds all stacked against them. It seems that everything from Foxes, corvids, Kestrels, gulls to uncontrolled dogs are all out to get them. Also noted were Cuckoo, Dunlin, Sandwich Terns and Little Sue birding her way towards Boulderwall.
ARC - Had a look for the `pale heron` without success. First Wigeon for ages at the south end amongst the Pochards, plus 2 Hobbies and a Little Gull. Bumped into Lensman in Hanson where 5 Blackwits and a Dunlin on the shingle ridges.
The GWE was reported from Dengemarsh, and the Glaucous Gull was at the boats.
ps: following on from reports of the `yellow-bird-of-Greatstone`, Saxman texted to say he`d had a Yellow Wagtail in his garden (very unusual) and She-who-must-be-Obeyed proffered Weaverbird as a possibility...
Privet Hawk Moth and Ringed Plover, Lade
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