Lade - mild, cloudy, sw 2 - An overcast day with the threat of rain that never materialised. The past couple of nights have been uneventful in the Plovers moth trap, apart from a
Webbs`s Wainscot which is just about annual here, although numbers remain in the low 20s of macro species. A couple of Willow Warblers fed in the garden first thing and a Greenshank went over calling.
Webb`s Wainscot, Plovers
ARC - From Hanson hide the now expected large numbers of eclipse wildfowl, Lapwings, Coots and grebes, plus Wood Sandpiper, Blackwit and three each of Little Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper and Dunlin. Plenty of Sand Martins over the water, several Willow Warblers in the scrub by Tower Pits and a Hobby overhead was about it.
Paul,
ReplyDeleteI read in the press that all the Dungeness Estate is up for sale with it being advertised as having huge tourist potential - is that something to worry about.
Unsure at the moment Derek, but the whole area is under NNR protection, so I can`t see too much changing, while EDF now own the majority area around the Bird Observatory, including the Desert, Trapping Area and Long Pits, so that should be safe. Mind you when money is concerned these special environmental protection measures don't seem to mean much; take the recent decision to expand Lydd Airport as an example, despite a £6 million Public Enquiry and stacks of opposition. The Dungeness Estate have got plans for a Toll on the access road, but there are no details as yet on when or how that`s going to work. As for the so called perceived `tourist potential` the whole appeal of the place is surely its remoteness and sense of space, although you wouldn't think so on a warm, summer weekend when people are swarming everywhere. Something has to change re the management of the Estate though, as the road is in a poor state and for a site that receives hundreds of thousands of visitors a year there isn't even a public toilet.I think its a case of watch this space...
ReplyDeleteThanks Paul, let's hope it all balances out OK.
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