Warm, dry and sunny, NE 3 - Another fine early autumn day with a brisk wind off the sea tempering the heat which reached 21 degrees by early afternoon. A visit to Scotney sand pit this morning was quiet by recent standards on the wader front with only six Avocets and two each of Common and Green Sandpipers noted; although I suppose it`s to be expected with the main wader passage now winding down. However, there were many more wildfowl since my last visit at the weekend with 20 Wigeon and a Pintail the highlights amongst 100 Teals, 50 Shovelers, 20 Gadwalls, 20 Mallards and three Shelducks. A couple of large flocks of Linnets and Meadow Pipits were active over the far side, while several pulses of Sand Martins moved through. Moving onto Kerton quarry where 50 Curlews were at roost plus at least 12 Kestrels scattered around the lake and over the Desert hovering in search of prey.
Yesterday morning a guided walk for RSPB proved to be a truncated affair due to the ongoing conservation work around Dengemarsh, so I elected to concentrate on Burrowes and ARC. From Dennis`s hide Martin had located two Caspian Gulls and a Yellow-legged Gull amongst a flock of Herring and Black-backs; the second year, ringed, Caspian was a particularly distinctive bird. Elsewhere across the lake there was little of note apart from 20 odd Golden Plovers amongst hundreds of Lapwings, a Common Sandpiper and the usual Sand Martins, egrets, wildfowl (including 20 Wigeon), Cormorants and grebes. Over the road from Hanson there was even less with Lapwings the only waders scattered within the expected dabbling and diving ducks, plus two White Wagtails, all three egrets and a Glossy Ibis; nine more Cattle Egrets were in the Boulderwall fields, dutifully following the suckling herd.
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