Black-winged Stilts

Dungeness RSPB - warm, dry and sunny, light airs - A fine morning of weather for the monthly guided walk around the circular trail for 10 visitors. The undoubted highlight being a party of four Black-winged Stilts (two pairs) that had dropped onto the hayfields earlier this morning and proved to be most confiding, feeding vigorously and flying around calling in the shallows near Christmas Dell hide. It was no great surprise considering the high numbers that have been reported from the coastal lagoons in the Pas-de-Calais recently; hopefully they`ll stay for a while and maybe even breed. The viewing ramp over Hookers reedbed also came up trumps for the guests with good views of Cuckoo, four Marsh Harriers and two Hobbies, plus fleeting views of Bearded Tits. Other notables around the reserve included a Peregrine and a Sparrowhawk over Burrowes, and a Ringed Plover from Makepeace lookout; along with the usual array of warblers, Redshanks and Lapwings in the hayfields, a Dabchick on the dipping pond, 10 Pochards, two Little Egrets and a Buzzard.  

                                  Black-winged Stilts, Hayfields