Starlings

Lade - 0700hrs - warm, dry and sunny, w4 - Very few moths in the trap this morning due to a cool, windy night, but Shark was new for the year.
Over the back the brisk westerly made for difficult viewing with most little `uns keeping to cover.
However, Starlings seemed to have had a good breeding season with several large flocks noisily hunting invertebrates on the shingle ridges. They love basking in the sunshine on roof tops in the lee of the wind, twittering away to one another before moving off to feed. Plenty of House Sparrow flocks too, common birds down here I know, but not everywhere apparently.

                                          Starlings, Lade

Dungeness - 1200hrs - a 30 minute seawatch from the boats delivered very little apart from a few terns and Gannets plus 20 Swifts heading south. A lone Yellow Wagtail overhead was the only other bird of note.
Cant believe we`re half way through the year, anyhow thought I`d better check the year list, not that I`m much of a lister these days, however it always surprises me what I`ve missed so far, considering the amount of time I spend in the field; eg, Scaup, Gropper, Marsh Tit and Hawfinch. Anyway, the running total stands at 225 species for the year, most of which has been seen on the Marsh, apart from a half a dozen or so seen on the Scottish trip.