Many-zoned Polypore

Dungeness - mild, sunny, ne 2 - 0845hrs - A superb spring morning that brought forth many fair weather birders into the field. We checked around the sea containers and old sheds for early migrants and did manage to find a Black Redstart along with several Pied Wagtails, while the 1st winter Glaucous Gull was on patrol by the fishing boats. An hour from the seawatch hide in the company of the Monday Club (yes, I know its Tuesday, but...) and the Joker was slow by Dungeness standards with just a trickle of east bound Red-throated Divers on the move. Milling around offshore were hundreds of Great Crested Grebes, eight Common Scoter, several auks and Mediterranean and Little Gulls amongst the many commoner species. As nothing much was happening, predictably the gags started flowing and by the time the conversation had moved on to the Archers it was time to call it a day.
We wandered over to the Obs checking for passerines, of which there were none, but whilst nattering on the moat, two male Peregrines put on a terrific fly past, noisily tussling with one another before settling on a pylon by `A` station. Earlier, the Hume`s Leaf Warbler was seen at the southern end of the trapping area (OL).
Greatstone - An old tree stump in the Joker`s back garden was covered in a spectacular fungi which I`ve tentatively identified as a Many-zoned Polypore, Coriolus versicolos, a common bracket fungi that eventually reduces such hardwood stumps to dust - isn`t nature just wonderful...

                                Many-zoned Polypore - Coriolus versicolos

Littlestone - Finished off at the golf links where we had distant views of a Short-eared Owl quartering the roughs and fairways amongst the golfers.