Lade - mild, sunny, S 3 - Once the rain had cleared it turned into a beautiful afternoon of weather, ideal for a circuit of the local patch with Ted where the highlight was several Goldcrests in the willow scrub by the ponds. This part of the site is a notable sun trap with plenty of butterflies and dragonflies still on the wing and the crests would have had no problem fuelling up on small insects and spiders after their nocturnal wanderings. Two Great White Egrets were on the far side of south lake while a couple of Swallows skimmed over the water, dipping down for a quick drink, before hurrying south and a Channel crossing.
Several more outward bound Swallows were also noted when we moved onto Dungeness for a walk along the foreshore between the lifeboat station and the fishing boats, and where a sickly looking Razorbill cut a sorry sight slumped on the shingle beach. Apparently, there have been others beached along the south coast of late, whether or not they`re victims of avian flu or `wrecked` from the latest named autumn storm is unknown. An hour seawatching from the boats with the locals produced very little apart from a flock of 20 odd Gannets and two Red-throated Divers feeding offshore, plus 10 Sandwich Terns, one Common Tern, five Little Gulls and four Common Gulls west. Indeed, the highlight of the `seawatch` was the German three-masted training schooner, Thor Heyerdahl, passing down-Channel under sail, a magnificent sight.
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