Lade - warm, dry and sunny, W2 - At last the strong winds of the past week or so subsided, affording the chance of finding a few passerines. Early this morning the east facing scrub line beside south lake supported a decent cast of Common and Lesser Whitethroats, Willow Warblers, tits, House Sparrows and Dunnocks soaking up the sunshine. There was no change to the wildfowl and grebe numbers on the lake, while a Common Sandpiper flew over south lake looking for somewhere to land. On the bay a few more Ringed Plovers have started to appear, while most of last weeks Mediterranean Gulls seem to have moved on.
With Dungeness RSPB reserve rendered largely unwatchable due the hide closures and high water levels we took ourselves down to Rye Harbour for a wader fix. Amongst the numerous Redshanks, Oystercatchers on the beach reserve were 10 Curlews, Six Whimbrels, four Avocets, five Ringed Plovers, two Common Sandpipers, two Dunlins, two Turnstones, a Ruff and a Greenshank. Also, there was still plenty of Common Tern breeding activity in front of Denny hide, plus four Sandwich Terns, 12 Little Egrets, Kestrel, two Swifts over and a Wheatear by Gooders hide.
This afternoon a visit to ARC from the Screen hide revealed the usual large numbers of eclipse wildfowl, including our first Wigeon of autumn, two Great White Egrets and a few Willow Warblers in the bushes. There was no sign of any tern activity on the raft.
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