Dunlins

Dungeness - hot, dry and sunny, SW 2 - The garden moth trap held two newcomers for the site this morning: Dun-bar and Barred Straw. On to Lade and very little to see here apart from a smart juvenile Marsh Harrier working the long reeedbed on south lake. After a moth sojourn at the Obs and a circuit of a crisp-brown Point, where the usual breeders were on offer, it was onto the bird reserve. The ARC attracted four Glossy Ibis, a Great White Egret, eight Ringed Plovers and three Black-tailed Godwits, plus a host of distant wildfowl out on the lake. On Burrowes passage waders included eight adult Dunlins in front of Firth, plus two Common Sandpipers, 10 Ringed and one Little Ringed Plover elsewhere around the pit. It was good to see some Sand Martin activity in the `wall` for the first time; whether or not they were second-brood nesters or prospecting for next year only time will tell, while small parties of migrants came and went throughout the day, mostly high overhead. Also noted several Buzzards, another juv Marsh Harrier, two Common Terns, five incoming Shelducks and a Cattle Egret on Boulderwall fields.

                                  Barred Straw 

                                 Dun-bar

                                  Corn Borer

                                  Glossy Ibis

                                  Passage Dunlins

                                 Common Tern, Burrowes