Flaming June!

Lade - cool, cloudy, showery, sw 4 - The past couple of days have been much of a muchness with cool winds and showers keeping temperatures down. As a result moth numbers have been predictably low in the garden trap with the only new for the year this morning a Cypress Carpet. However, when I went out to switch on the trap last night it was pleasing to see a couple of small bats hawking insects in the lee of the fir trees.

                                Cypress Carpet

  A stiff breeze also kept bird numbers down, although its always good to see a few Swifts close at hand. This morning a Hobby rushed over the water totally ignoring the agile Swifts and struck out at a fair old lick across the Desert, nailing a juvenile Starling for breakfast! Currently there are hundreds of Starlings and House Sparrows feeding on insects emerging from the shingle ridges, ideal prey for opportunistic raptors such as Kestrel and Sparrowhawk, both of which I`ve seen in action this week. Five Sandwich Terns over south lake was also noteworthy today.
  The bay has been quiet all week with only a few non-breeding waders present such as Curlew and Barwit. At hide tide yesterday at least four Grey Seals followed the flood in to hunt flat fish.
  Locally there has been little change to the birding scene as you would expect for mid-June. On the bird reserve several Great White Egrets and Hobbies are present around Dengemarsh, plus three  Little Gulls and a Garganey on ARC/Burrowes, while the Serin continues to perform at Littlestone.