Pale Grass Eggar

Lade - cool, cloudy, ne 4 - A much cooler start to the day with a brisk wind out of the north. Consequently moth numbers were suppressed in the garden MV, but did include a few Silver Ys, a Toadflax Brocade and, first of the summer, a Pale Grass Eggar. This Red Data Book moth, a yellowish-brown form of Grass Eggar is largely restricted to the Dungeness area and parts of East Sussex.

                                Pale Grass Eggar

                               Tagged information signs, Lade

  We flogged around the local patch but there were fewer migrants about than yesterday and with no further sign of the Night Heron. Common Sandpiper, two Marsh Harriers and a Kingfisher were of note. Depressingly, the two information posts at the southern end of the pits, explaining the history of Lade `mirrors`, have been tagged by some little darling.
Dungeness - A midday visit to ARC, under leaden skies with heavy thunder and lightening showers in the Channel, yielded a clutch of waders including Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers, Redshanks and Dunlins amongst the massed ranks of Black-headed Gulls, Lapwings, Cormorants, feral geese, ducks and swans. About 50 Sand Martins skimmed the lake and a Hobby went over sending them skywards.
  An afternoon visit to a private garden on the estate for a Melodious Warbler drew a blank, while several Wheatears, Mipits and Skylarks hugged the beach scrub opposite in the increasing wind. My heart missed a couple of beats when I realised that Barney wasn`t nearby, until I spotted him over by the fishing containers chasing a Fox! Anyhow, no harm done to either beast and Barney soon scuttled back over the shingle panting like a good `un.