Warm, humid, rain, light airs - While the local birding scene has taken on a typical early summer predictability the steamy, hot nights of the past few days have delivered good numbers of moths to trap sites across Dungeness and the Marsh. Even here in New Romney I`ve had a couple of new species for the site: a fairly boring Dingy Shears at the weekend followed by a spectacular Striped Hawk-moth last night and plenty of other quality in between. This morning our Ted walk out to St Mary-in-the-Marsh to assist Chris P checking through his moth-laden trap delivered something of a local rarity in the form of a very smart Light Crimson Underwing, a new moth for both of us and a species with less than ten previous area records.
Once the rain had stopped I headed down to the bird reserve for the afternoon. Burrowes was fairly quiet with an eclipse Pintail in front of Firth the highlight, plus 38 Common Terns on a shingle island out from Dennis`s, of which six or more appeared to be sitting down as though on eggs. I released a juvenile Sedge Warbler trapped in the hide which sat on my hand for a minute before flying off, apparently none the worse from its brief incarceration. Over the road from Hanson hide there was plenty of Avocet and Ringed Plover breeding activity along with Common Terns and all the usual eclipse ducks including the Red-crested Pochard with her single surviving duckling. An adult Dunlin and Black-tailed Godwit provided the passage wader interest while a message from Jacob at the Obs alerted us in the hide to a passing Honey Buzzard drifting ever higher over the Desert before disappearing from view over the Long Pits.
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