Pied Flycatcher

Lade - cool, sunny, e 3 - We didn't get out til late due to a busy weekend of B&B guests coming and going. The local patch was quiet this morning following a clear, cold night with hardly any migrants present apart from a handful of Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers by the ponds. On south lake the Great White Egret was still present but I could find no sign of yesterdays Black-necked Grebes.

                                Pied Flycatcher, Long Pits

Long Pits - Having heard that the seabird passage was good earlier, the plan this afternoon was to spend a couple of hours from the fishing boats. However, following a tweet from the Obs concerning a cock Pied Flycatcher on the northern Long Pit we diverted rather rapidly. Pied Flycatchers in the spring at Dungeness are bordering on rarity status these days and it wasn't long before, together with PB, we were watching this stunning migrant feeding in the lee of the wind on the western side of the pit opposite the laboratory. Its habits were typically flycatcher in fashion for the most part, but it also regularly dropped down from the willows into the reed bed to feed, as well as posing in the sunshine for the camera. A splendid sub-Saharan migrant.
  Also present were a Common Redstart, 2 Blackcaps and several Chiffchaffs, Cetti`s and Willow Warblers.