Dungeness moths & extreme weather

Lade - 0600hrs - warm, dry and sunny, e 3 - Despite a muggy night the brisk easterly kept moth numbers low, although a Toadflax Brocade was good to see. Very sultry over the pits with Yellow Wagtail and Mipit overhead and hundreds of Black-headed Gulls feeding on flying insects coming off the shingle ridges.

                                Toadflax Brocade, Lade

KRC - Joined Mrs Moth to check her traps where 30 species noted include more Toadflax  Brocades, Pale Grass Eggars and a Sussex Emerald the highlights; numbers were low here too.

                                   Pale Grass Eggar, KRC

                                Sussex Emerald, KRC

Dungeness - At the Patch a handful of Common Terns (including a 1st summer bird) and gulls over the boil, plus a 1,000 or more gulls on the beach, mostly Black-headed and Herring and at least one juv Yellow-legged Gull.
Lade - Sitting in the garden at lunchtime (hot and muggy) I heard a distant drone that I initially put down to a jet engine warming up on the airfield - until that is the sound appeared overhead and I realised it was a massive swarm of bees, that continued south towards Dungeness...
The wind slackened off this afternoon and on the high tide I went for a long swim off the boardwalk; most refreshing, and I even got a bit of birding in as a pair of Sandwich Terns fished nearby and scrutinised the human whale attempting front crawl...
As the evening wore on the wind dropped completely and storm clouds gathered from the south along with a great bank of rolling white cloud. What followed next was incredible - a typhoon-like wind whipped across the peninsula containing plant and soil debris causing havoc in the back garden and covering cars hereabouts. Looking up the sky was jet black, streaked grey as the white roll passed overhead, akin to something like you see in one of those Armageddon disaster movies. The wind then dropped and torrential rain commenced with thunder and lightening all around; it was the most spectacular weather phenomenon I`ve ever seen down here.

Manxie

Lade - 0600hrs - warm, dry, sunny, se 3 - We were up and out early this morning to beat the heat, but to be honest, what with an onshore breeze that increased throughout the day it was never really that uncomfortable. On the gravel pits singles of Common Sandpiper and LRP around the margins, 80 Oystercatchers on the main island, plus plenty of common wildfowl and loafing gulls. On the desert clumps of bushes in the lee of the wind were swamped with browns, Marbled Whites, one or two Common Blues and hundreds of damselflies.
Dungeness - An hour at the fishing boats this afternoon yielded very little apart from a few passing terns and Gannets, but just as we were about to leave a Manx Shearwater scuttled by and onto the year list.

Dog days

Lade - 0600hrs  - warm, dry and sunny, sw 3 - Plenty of activity over the pits with loads of extra wildfowl and gulls on south lake, presumably due to a mass insect hatch amongst the surface water weed. Two Common Sandpipers flitted over the water and a couple of Mipits headed south.
Barney got the No 1 treatment from Mrs PT`s clippers the other day as the old boy was suffering in the heat, although I still cannot entice him in for a swim...
RSPB - Called in throughout the day where the only waders I could find were the two Black-wits at the south end of ARC and a Common Sandpiper on Burrowes, plus a few Lapwings and Oystercatchers, although duck numbers were on the rise on both lakes.
Lade - An evening walk along the beach in glorious sunshine was notable for hundreds of gulls pouring back onto the mudflats to feed as the tide receded, along with a number of Sandwich Terns.
Here`s a thought though, I am constantly amazed at how few locals use this fabulous beach - just why is that? You would think that it would be full of kids paddling and mucking about in the sand or playing footie, but no, there was not a single juvenile human to be seen. So where are they all? I see `em getting off the bus, or being shepherded home in mummies car (oops, I`m beginning to sound old...), so they`re definitely hereabouts, just can`t image what they get up too... can you?

                               "Its too damn hot, even with me coat missing"

                                Lade Bay on a glorious July evening

NB: Anyhow, a couple of footnotes, first off many thanks to one and all who pulled over with offers of help as my car expired on the Lydd Road yesterday. It was pretty spectacular (and expensive)as any of you will appreciate if you`ve ever had a turbo diesel engine seize - I really thought it was going to blow up!
Secondly, that blessed unidentified tree up near Park Wood that I posted a while back. I`m now pretty sure after an e-mail from Bill Mclay, who directed me to a spot on pic of it on the internet, that it was a Silver-variegated Norway Maple, Acer platanoides, drummondii. I kid you not, that tree has been more problematic than a phylloscopus warbler in moult! 

Rye Harbour waders

Lade - 0600hrs - sunny, warm, sw 4 - A stunning morning with blue skies from the off and a much fresher feel following yesterday evenings thunderstorms. Plenty of common moths in the Skinner, including Oak Eggar and whilst emptying the trap a Grey Wagtail flew over the garden heading south, a very early migrant as they`re not usually expected until the end of next month -  and new for year! Now, where`s that year list...

                                Oak Eggar, Lade


Rye Harbour NR - We spent most of the morning at Rye with Mrs PT (I think after 40 years she`s actually showing an interest...) looking for waders where we eventually rattled up 12 species, including passage Whimbrel, Greenshank, Ruff and Common Sandpiper on the lagoons down towards Harbour Farm. On Flat Beach it was good to see Avocet, Ringed Plover, Oystercatcher and Redshank with well grown young where also 55 Dunlin, Curlew, LRP and Ruff. On Ternery Pool 65 Redshanks at roost on the islands, while an unseasonal Red-breasted Merganser was noteworthy.
On the tern front it appeared that the Sandwich Terns had deserted the main island on Ternery Pool, although we did see four adults and two juvs on Flat Beach where plenty of Common Terns seemed to be faring well. From the John Gooder`s hide 18 Little Terns counted but apparently they too have failed to breed successfully again due to a shortage of small fish or sand eels. Also noted Med Gull, Kestrel, Wheatear, Yellow Wagtail, Whitethroat, Mipit and Skylark around the site.
As always a pleasure to visit, and we look forward to many more visits for shorebirds as the season progresses.

                               Common Terns, Rye

                               Red-breasted Merganser, Rye

                                            Lesser Burdock, Rye

A few more returning migrants

Lade - 0700hrs - mild, cloudy, drizzle sw 3 - Another disappointing night around the moth trap due maily to a brisk south-westerly that increased through the day along with bright sunshine. However, Common Rustic and Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing were both new for the year.
The monthly WeBS count on the pits yielded large numbers of Coot and common wildfowl, plus a Common Sandpiper and 50 Sand Martins.

                                 Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Lade

Dengemarsh - 1100hrs - A full circuit from ARC car park delivered plenty of insects on the wing despite the brisk wind. Reed and Sedge Warblers, Whitethroats and Reed Buntings were just about still in song and on the track out towards Lydd we noted five Yellow Wagtails and a singing Corn Bunting. From Springfield Bridge a Common Sandpiper flew low over the lake and the usual Common Terns, Bearded Tits, Marsh Harriers and a single Hobby were noted on the walk round to the viewing ramp, plus a pair of Wigeon on the New Excavations which were our first of the return passage.
However, the hayfields looked a sorry old state; full of long grass and dry as a bone, without a bird present, and by the Corral a large Mink ran across the track which was an equally depressing sight.
Once back at the car we drov to the VC to check out a photographic display by Justin Sutcliffe, complete with his award winning photograph of Romney Marsh, a part of the, `This Was Once Sea` exhibition. Personally, I didn`t think much of the pics, one or two were ok, but others were out of focus, in an arty-farty kind of a way, or irrelevant - still, what do I know...
Anyhow, was good to have a natter with local birders including, as always, NB and family.
It was also a relief to see a few islands on Burrowes, what with the wader passage underway, where  Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers, Common Sandpiper and a Ruff were present.

Common Sandpiper

Lade - 0700hrs - overcast, drizzle, light airs - With muggy weather conditions overnight I was expecting a load of moths in the trap this morning, and while there was 32 species there was little of any quality apart from Sussex Emerald, Kent Black Arches and the pyralid Ringed China-mark.

                                 Ringed China-mark, Parapoynx stratiotata

                                Blood-vein, Lade

Over the pits, with barely a breath of wind, juv Linnets and Whitethroats appeared to be everywhere. The first Common Sandpiper of the season flew over south lake calling, three whistling Greenshanks went south along the coast, while an accurate count of roosting Curlews tallied 155. Above the willow swamp hundreds of Sand Martins fed on emerging insects. Several noisy parties of Sandwich Terns flew over the site from the bay, coming and going Rye way, some with fish, although I hear tell that few young have fledged. Common Terns, presumably from the bird reserve, seemed to be finding plenty of small fish in the lakes hereabouts.
ARC - An afternoon visit to the screen hide and at the south end yielded 13 Little Egrets and 11 Grey Herons amongst the usual wildfowl. Plenty of Sand Martins and Swallows about.
NB: The identity of the Park Wood tree has been solved by Mrs Moth, it is a Black Locust, Robinia pseudoacacia, also known as False Acacia, which is an introduced species from south-eastern USA and widely planted as an ornamental tree in parks and gardens.

Bits & pieces

Lade - 1200hrs - mild, rain, cloudy, nw 2 - Heavy overnight rain continued through the morning with a fine drizzle and a muggy atmosphere. On south lake a Black-necked Grebe was new in along with another Greenshank. A roost of 150 Curlews on the storm beaches were disturbed by a male Marsh Harrier which also contained five Barwits and a Grey Plover. Around 100 Sand Martins and a few Swifts hawked insects over the willow swamp while a Hobby zipped through.
ARC - At the south end from the causeway road two Blackwits and a Redshank amongst a motley collection of Little Egrets, Cormorants and eclipse ducks.

                                Blackwits, ARC

Dungeness - The Patch was quiet this afternoon with singles of Med Gull, Kittiwake and Yellow-legged Gull the only noteworthys amongst a couple of hundred large gulls and 50 Common Terns. On the walk back a Green Sandpiper flew over calling and headed out to sea.
An hour from the fishing boats delivered a handful of terns, Gannets and little else, while a Grey Seal was once again patrolling just offshore.

                                Great Black-backed Gull, Dungeness