Lade - warm, dry and sunny, light airs - Following on from yesterday`s sighting of a Hoodie on the beach at Greatstone I decided on an early start this morning and was on the bay at 0500hrs for a scan and walk along the sands. Unsurprisingly, it was devoid of humans and dogs (apart from Barney) at that hour, but breathtakingly beautiful nonetheless with the sun bouncing off the wet slacks and distant incoming sea. However, there was no sign of the pied corvid, just a few Carrion Crows, Jackdaws and feral Pigeons foraging along the tideline. A Greenshank crossed the bay calling evocatively, (an unusual record at anytime of year over salt water) while the `normal wader` count comprised 54 Oystercatchers,12 Curlews and four Ringed Plovers, plus two Shelducks, two Sandwich Terns and a Mallard. Scoping the sea produced distant Gannets and Cormorants on the move and a large fish jumping out of the water!
Just after noon NB and family were scanning Cook`s Pool at Boulderwall when mum said, "what`s that wader with a white rump flying over the water"? To which Neil replied, "er, it`s a pratincole!" as one soon morphed into two (presumably a pair?). Pratincoles are notoriously difficult to identify and given the short period of time I was on site, and mostly distant views looking into the sun, I could not say which of the three possible species they were. Most of the time they were airborne, resembling marsh terns as they hawked flying insects over the wetlands, and occasionally landing on a weedy bund at the back of Cook`s pool. However, they were confirmed as Collared Pratincoles (the most likely of the trio) by a number of birders who clocked the unique combination of a reddish-brown underwing and white trailing edge. Having seen a few pratincoles down the years in this country, this is the first time I can remember two together, and the first at Dungeness for some time. A great find by the Burt family and much appreciated by a steady flow of local and visiting birders alike.
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