Mediterranean Gulls

Lade - mild, cloudy, NNE 3 - A cooler feel to the day due a northerly airflow. We flogged around the local patch with little reward this morning apart from two Grey Wagtails and a Rock Pipit overhead along with a few finches, Skylarks and Mipits. Two Chiffchaffs were in the bushes by the ponds and three Great White Egrets fished the margins of south lake.
  Not such a good night in the garden moth trap last night although Mallow was new for the year and a late Double-striped Pug was of note.
  A check of the sands from Littlestone revealed eight species of shorebirds including 20 Grey Plovers and 100 Sanderlings, plus 50 Mediterranean Gulls, four Brent Geese, 10 Wigeons and five Teal.

                                Mallow moth

             There`s something satisfying about picking squashes and pumpkins

Dungeness - Called in at Hanson hide on the way back from the allotment where the usual Golden Plovers and Lapwings on the islands, plus Ruff, Snipe and Dunlin. Shoveler, Pintail and Wigeon numbers had increased since yesterday while Marsh Harrier, Bittern, Great White Egret and Sparrowhawk flew across the lake.
  An hour at the fishing boats this afternoon delivered a steady trickle of Gannets, Kittiwakes, Med Gulls, Common Scoters, auks and Brents, plus a single Bonxie. Just under 2,000 Med Gulls were seen earlier today between the Patch and Penn Bars (MC), whether these are birds that have dispersed from Copt Point, Folkestone or from elsewhere is unknown.