Wet, wet, wet

Lade - mild, wet and windy, sw 3 - With more heavy and persistent rain over the past couple of days (18mm recorded at Dungeness and Littlestone overnight) it will come as no surprise to anyone that water levels across the Dungeness peninsula are the highest for this time of year since 2001, according to records held at the RSPB reserve (per CE). The islands on Burrowes are steadily diminishing and will continue to do so until March which is traditionally the month when water levels peak. New water marker posts have also recently been erected at Lade and ARC lakes.
  We had a run round around this morning and could find no change to the regular birds that had been seen this week. The Boulderwall fields were packed out with ducks, plovers, corvids and the like with attendant Marsh Harriers and Great White Egrets, while thousands of Cormorants, ducks and gulls continue to be attracted to Burrowes along with a small flock of Black-tailed Godwits and at times a showy Firecrest in the willows between Dennis`s and Makepeace hides. Two Long-tailed Ducks and a Slavonian Grebe were still on Scotney pits and six Bewick`s Swans have attached themselves to a large Mute Swan flock on Walland Marsh from Hook`s Wall.