Pectoral Sandpiper

Dungeness - warm, dry and sunny, SW 3 - A mid-morning check of ARC from Hanson hide with MC revealed a newly arrived adult Pectoral Sandpiper nervously feeding on a stony island close to the Screen hide reedbed. A classic Nearctic wader that now resides in small numbers on this side of the Atlantic and always a treat to see; thanks to David Scott for the pic below as mine were of poor quality. Also noted, an Avocet, several Dunlins and Little Ringed Plovers, the usual egrets and Ibises, a Kingfisher and two Mediterraneans amongst a flock of Black-headed Gulls. On Burrowes the only passage waders were eight Dunlins, four Little Ringed Plovers and a Common Sandpiper.

                                   Pectoral Sandpiper, ARC (by D Scott)

The muggy nights continue to attract plenty of moths to the light trap with Sharp-angled Carpet and V Pug new for the garden list last night. A sea swim in Lade Bay yesterday produced four Grey Seals on the high tide and, sadly, two dead adult Gannets on the strandline, almost certainly casualties of the ongoing Avian Influenza epidemic which seems to be mostly affecting seabirds.

                                 Sharp-angled Carpet

                                  V Pug

                                 Adult Gannet, Lade Bay