Hot, dry and sunny, light airs -- This morning I visited the local patch at Lade and Kerton quarry to count the wildfowl, in co-ordination with John Young who had the unenviable task of counting the massed ranks on Burrowes and ARC. Lade lakes/Kerton quarry respectively: Tufted Duck - 152/48. Pochard - 73/18. Mallard - 18/10. Gadwall - 8/2. Shoveler - 8/2. Teal - 7/0. Coot - 96/28. Great Crested Grebe - 72/19. Dabchick - 10/2. Mute Swan - 2/4. Canada Goose - 0/12. Egyptian Goose - 0/6. Little Egret - 12/4. Oystercatcher - 0/187. Lapwing - 0/10. Common Sandpiper - 1/2. A check from Hanson hide revealed that the Avocet pair and a Shoveler still had their young intact and where a brood of Gadwall ducklings were on the water. Apart from a Mediterranean Gull, several Common Terns, Common Sandpipers and Ringed Plovers the only other birds of note were a Great White Egret and an eclipse Pintail.
Yesterday, around noon, a huge emergence of flying ants over New Romney attracted hundreds of Starlings and gulls, mostly Mediterranean and a few Black-headed and Common Gulls, to feast on the easy pickings as they soared high over the town. Even the Herring Gulls got in on the act, strutting around the local park and verges snapping up the insects, but by late afternoon it was all over and normal service was resumed.
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