The lakes were besieged today with hundreds of visitors from far and wide attending the listening `mirrors` open day as camera toting enthusiasts made the most of the fine weather and access onto the island. OL and team were doing a splendid job of shepherding and informing the punters of the site history.
All the usual breeding birds noted, plus a flock of 60 Curlews going to roost on the Desert. In the shelter of the strong wind plenty of common grassland butterflies and dragonflies were on the wing, including several second brood Small Coppers and Common Blues.
ARC - Saturday - Yesterday afternoon I managed to slip away for an hour and admire Dungeness`s third White-winged Black Tern of the year performing in front of Hanson hide like a good `un, Unfortunately, from a bridge-camera point of view, it was on the wing constantly and not easy to photograph, but there should be plenty of good pics on the blogs judging from the number of long-tom twitchers on site. Also noted a 1st summer Little Gull, but the waders from Friday appeared to have departed.
Paul,
ReplyDeleteWe used to have a couple of the Sound Mirrors on top of the cliffs here at Warden Point , Sheppey, but they long ago ended up in pieces at the foot of the cliffs as a result of cliff falls.
Haven't seen Barney for a while, is he OK.
Derek, I`m pretty sure the Lade Sound Mirrors are the last of the three types left anywhere and as such are protected as an ancient monument by English Heritage; they certainly command a great deal of interest from tourists. Yesterday was the last open day organised by the White Cliffs Romney Marsh team, as the site is now owned by RSPB. As for Barney, he`s fine, but not keen on the heat, so adopting a low profile, and looking forward to the forthcoming seawatching season...
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