More Med Gulls

Lade - 0900hrs - Cloudy, rain, misty, ene 1 - A mild, murky sort of a day with drizzle throughout and by afternoon a misty shroud had enveloped the peninsula and bay. Little of note on the pits apart from the regulation 5 Goldeneyes and several pairs of displaying Great Crested Grebes. In desperation we slogged out across the shingle and worked our way back along Mockmill Sewer where Barney flushed a couple of Snipe and a Water Rail. Angling back across the desert towards Kerton Road pit a Brown Hare broke cover and at least 3 Skylarks were in full song, while a pair of Ringed Plovers flew over calling.
Black-headed Gulls bred successfully on Kerton pit last year and already a dozen or more birds were  back and acting territorially, along with a single Med Gull. On the walk back home another `yowing` Med Gull flew over and I guess from now on they will be regularly encountered throughout the spring across Dungeness.
Checked out Littlestone for the Snow Bunting, but negative news.
Dungeness - 1430hrs - I thought this may have been a bad idea and so it proved to be as you could just about see the cardinal buoy from the seawatch hide. However, despite the poor viz the flat calm sea held a raft of Great Crested Grebes and auks, several Red-throated Divers and a fly-by Med Gull. The land was a virtual birdless wasteland; still, not long now `til the first Wheatears, Black Reds, Firecrests etc...
ARC/New Diggings  - The usual wildfowl here including 6 Smew on ARC and a Great White Egret at the Boulderwall end of ND. Called in the Kerton Road Café on the way back where several species of common early moths came to light last night, which made me think about digging out my trap, until I looked at the forecast for the next week and what looks like a return to winter. Maybe I`ll hang on for a while...