Common Terns

Lade - cold, dry, sunny, e 6 - A blasting east wind made for a difficult morning in the field for the guests. We kicked off opposite the Tavern on an incoming tide where a flock of 25 Knot was the highlight, plus the usual Sanderlings, Curlews, Oystercatchers and Ringed Plovers.
Dungeness - 0945-1045hrs - An hour in the seawatch hide, while pedestrian, did deliver one or two new birds for the tour including a flock of 30 Brents. Also noted, 7 Whimbrel, 10 Gannets and a steady flow of feeding Common and Sandwich Terns. Some of the Common Terns settled on the sea and down at the Patch there was at least 200 milling over the boil and settled on the beach.
Lade - We finished off at the pits where the surprise sighting was a brief but close view of a Water Rail on the causeway. Whitethroat, Sedge and Cetti`s Warblers were all in good voice around the ponds while on north lake a small flock of Swallows contained 2 House Martins.
During the three days we clocked up around 100 species for Avril, Rob and Margaret with the highlights being Slavonian and Black-necked Grebes, Bean Goose, Whimbrel, Peregrine, Water Rail, Barn Owl, Black Redstart, Yellow Wagtail, Tree Sparrow and Corn Bunting.