LRP Chicks

Lade - 0600hrs - cool, cloudy, n2 - Another not-very-summery morning due to the persistent, chill northerly airflow. Low moth numbers again, although migrant Dark Sword-grass and White Point present, plus Copper Underwing, new for the year. A few Common Sandpipers on the pits and Willow Warblers in the sallows.
ARC - 1300hrs - Similar to yesterday with a dozen Goldies, 7 Blackwits, 4 Dunlins, Redshank, Common Sands, 2 Little Gulls, 2 eclipse Garganeys and a sack load of Lapwings. The adult LRP has managed to keep her 2 fluffy (argh..) little chicks alive for another day, which is quite late for a second brood. The female Goosander continues her long stay at ARC where she is reguarly mistaken for anything from a RBmerg to a RCPochard... (An easy mistake to make if you`re just starting out, or finishing off, but nowhere near as good as the one I heard the other day when an elderly birder was convinced he`d seen a Spot Shank in breeding plum - which in fact was a Starling!)
Dungeness - 1900hrs Karen and Sarah down from Lincs arrived this afternoon for a few days moth`ing. We called in at the Mathematicians where Bordered Sallow was new for them. Afterwards, a trip to the boats yielded several porpoises feeding close to shore off the Point, along with Gannets, Common and Sandwich Terns.

                                          Goosander, ARC