Hirundines & Swifts

Dungeness - 0900hrs - cool, cloudy, damp, ne4 - With the wind swinging round to the north-east seawatching was predictably quiet with just a trickle of Gannets and scoters on the move and around 100 Common Terns coming and going from the Patch. However, a steady flow of Swallows came in off the sea plus two groups of 5 and 9 Swifts.
ARC - 1030hrs - first mass arrival of hirundines and Swifts this spring with several hundreds low over the water, predominantly Swallows. From the south end at least 2 each of Channel and White Wagtails, 3 Dunlins and 2 Ringed Plovers, while from Screen hide a flock of 9 Redshanks, Long-tailed Duck, LRP, Cuckoo, Lesser Whitethroat and my first Common Sandpiper of the year.
Scotney - 1300hrs - Fairly quiet apart from 9 Whimbrels, 5 Ringed Plovers, 2 Marsh Harriers and a lone Wigeon.
Burrowes - 1400hrs  - More Swallows and Swifts drifting over, but little else as the rain returned and the wind speed picked up.
Moths -Needless to say it has been a poor month for moths with numbers down or absent from most local traps (only one moth in the garden trap here last night), particularly when compared to this time last year. However, the Kerton Road Cafe bucked the trend with 14 species, 7 of which were new for the year.

                                         Angle Shades

                                         Red Twin-spot Carpet