Hoopoe

Lade - 0700hrs - cool, cloudy, E2 - The wind relented this morning affording a more accurate check of the breeding birds on the local patch. More singing Common Whitethroats were recorded, particularly in Mockmill where the Stonechat pair were feeding young, although Linnets were hard to come by. On south lake a Common Sandpiper almost got caught by a male Sparrowhawk and a few Mediterranean Gulls drifted over high calling.
St Mary`s Bay - A late morning walk along the promenade by the golf links produced singing Skylarks and Meadow Pipits, plus a passage Wheatear. On the foreshore a few Ringed Plovers and Dunlins while out in the bay up to 50 Common Scoters came and went in small groups.
Dengemarsh - A Hoopoe found by PB at Galloways earlier relocated to the verge at Dengemarsh Road this afternoon. When I arrived it had just been disturbed, but showed briefly in flight on the Army ranges opposite Springfield Bridge a little later. This may well have been last months bird that was initially seen at Midley before doing a tour of the Marsh between Brookland and Burmarsh.
The only other news today concerned a Garganey on Hayfield 3.