Lade - mild and showery, W 3 - Plenty to see around the local patch this morning which continues to attract decent numbers of waterfowl across both lakes. Coots were most numerous at 340 followed by 280 Pochard, 120 Tufted Duck, 30 Mute Swan, 30 Mallard, 20 Gadwall, 35 Great Crested Grebe (only two juvs noted so far), 12 Little Grebe and six Moorhen. A few Common Terns drifted over and a Great White Egret stalked the main reedbed from where a Water Rail called. At least six Little Egrets and three Common Sandpipers were noted around the margins, while a male Sparrowhawk zipped over the willow swamp, the first I`ve seen here for a while. A heavy shower forced down a pulse of 150 Sand Martins and ten Swifts over south lake. Moving onto Dungeness and the male Peregrine was perched above the nest site high on B station where two youngsters are due to fledge; this is their first successful year since abandoning the old site on A station. At the Patch it was good to see around 50 Common Terns on the beach alongside ten Mediterranean Gulls and hundreds of Black-headed and Herring Gulls. The only birds seen on the land were a few Linnets, Pied Wagtails, a Whitethroat and a Kestrel.
Elsewhere this past weekend we`ve been walking the farmland around New Romney where the barley and oil-seed rape harvest is well underway and where few birds were noted, mainly due to the strong winds; ten Mediterranean Gulls in a turf field was about it. Called in at Hanson hide yesterday where the expected Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers, Redshanks and Lapwings were joined by a few passage Dunlins, Green and Common Sandpipers, and where Glossy Ibis, Wood Sandpiper and Greenshank were also reported.
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