Squacco Heron

Dungeness RSPB - 1100hrs - Attempted to photo the Squacco (4th day on site) again but by the time I arrived it had moved from its posing perch at the ramp to the back end of Dengemarsh, where it hunkered down out of the wind and sulked for the afternoon. Gave it an hour, in the teeth of a howling gale, before moving on. The GWE got up a couple of times before sensibly deciding to keep low in the reed bed. The usual, camera-toting local suspects on site, also hoping for the Squacco to perform, plus a trickle of twitchers (you can spot `em a mile away as they scurry around, nervously looking at pagers or mobiles, before mentally year ticking said heron, and onto the next location - can`t believe I used to be like that).
Nipped into the allotment next to pick strawberries. As it was Lydd Club Day the place was deserted. The  local wildlife was also aware that the gardeners of Lydd were elsewhere and were busily tucking into the produce. Barney set about the rabbits in the onion patch, while I sorted out the Frenchie; somehow a partridge had got into the fruit cage and nibbled me berries. There was much `chuckering` as I attempted to grab the fat blighter, but he eventually broke free and set off like a rocket towards the airport (mental note to send details to BB...).
Anyway, back to the birds. Plenty of activity on ARC with the highlight being a very obliging Green Sandpiper in front of Screen hide. Hundreds of Swifts and House Martins over the water, plus Hobby, Dunlin and the female Goosander at the south end. The Glaucous Gull remained at the fishing boats.

                                         Green Sandpiper, ARC