Wood Sandpiper

Dungeness - warm, dry, cloudy, sw2 - Continuing on with our Birdwatching Break for Clare and Peter we kicked off with a very steady seawatch from the hide where a trickle of Gannets, Commic and Sandwich Terns moved east along with 20 Arctic and one Little Tern, 20 Common Scoter and 10 Brents. On the land Peregrine, four Black Redstarts, two Wheatears (one a Greenland), Stonechats, Mipits, Skylarks, Garden Warbler, Whitethroat, Blackcap, Linnet and Swallow. Plenty of Small Coppers were on the wing in the warm sunshine, plus Brimstone and Grizzled Skipper.

                                Small Coppers and Grizzled Skipper

  Moving onto the bird reserve the Boulderwall fields held 12 Whimbrels, Little and Great White Egrets; on Burrowes over 150 Common Terns on the islands attracted five Little Terns, plus two Dunlins, Ringed Plover and Bar-tailed Godwit; on Dengemarsh six Hobbies, Bearded Tit, Cuckoo, Cattle Egret, Marsh Harrier, while Hayfield 3 had two Wigeon, Shoveler, four Redshanks, Lapwings and best of all a Greenshank and a Wood Sandpiper which flew in calling and showed reasonably well through the scope.
  We called back at the fishing boats but the sea was dead so we moved onto Lade bay from the Tavern viewpoint where Curlews, Barwits, Oystercatchers and five Sanderlings noted on a falling tide.

                                Barwits on the beach

  An evening excursion to Orlestone Forest proved successful with up to four Nightingales in song and a couple of brief glimpses of birds low down in cover. Also noted, three Turtle Doves, Willow and Garden Warblers, Blackcap and Chiffchaff, plus down on the Marsh, Cuckoo, Yellowhammer, Buzzard, Kestrel and Red-legged Partridge in two locations.