Waders & Wagtails

Dengemarsh Gully - 0800hrs  - Warm, misty, e2, sunny later - A change of plan this morning as we walked the gully down and back in misty conditions, but with little return apart from singles of Common and Lesser Whitethroats, Blackcap, Whinchat, Wheatear and Reed Bunting. On the field by the chicken sheds the first 50 or so of many Yellow Wagtails seen today, plus `pinging` Beardies along the sewer.
Galloways - At least 15 Whinchats here but little else.
Scotney - What was bird of day in the shape of a ringtail Hen Harrier hunting behind the farm, with plenty of common wildfowl on the pits plus 2 Egyptian Geese. More migrant Yellow Wagtails with at least 200 coming and going and scattered amongst the sheep, where also 20 Pied Wagtails, 10 Curlews, 100 Starlings and 2 Common Sandpipers.

                                Egyptian Geese, Scotney

                                Yellow Wagtails, Scotney

ARC - From Hanson hide a host of waders on the shingle ridges included 300 Lapwing, 160 Golden Plover, 10 Curlew, 6 Oystercatcher, 7 Blackwits, 5 Greenshank, 5 Dunlin, 4 Ruff, 4 Ringed Plover, 2 Snipe and a Curlew Sandpiper. A Peregrine spooked the waders on occasions while Marsh Harrier and Sparrowhawk also put in an appearance. Also noted 3 Garganey, 2 Little Egret and a Green Woodpecker with more Yellow Wags overhead.
Please note that the vegetation in front of Hanson hide is being cut tomorrow, Thursday 5th September, to improve the view across the ridges, so if anyone is planning a visit make it after 5pm, or better still leave it `til Friday (thanks for the warning Craig).

                                Black-tailed Godwits, Burrowes

Burrowes - Plenty more waders here, particularly in front of Firth hide, with 7 Blackwits, 6 Greenshanks, 5 Dunlin, 2 Snipe, 2 Ruff, 2 Common Sandpiper and a Knot. From Makepeace a distant Little Stint alongside 2 Dunlin plus 2 LRPs and a Whimbrel over.
Lade - Loads more Yellow Wagtails passing overhead during the afternoon, plus Black-necked Grebe on south lake and Green Sandpiper and Redshank in the willow swamp.
Kerton Road - Called in at the café this afternoon where the main talking point was a spectacular insect, an Ant-lion, Euroleon nostros, which apparently is a rare migrant probably of continental origin.
Dungeness - Finished off with a late afternoon seawatch which was notable for a complete lack of seabirds apart from 2 Sandwich Terns in an hour.
No complaints though, as a cracking days birding with 18 species of waders noted.

Feral Geese

Lade - 0700hrs -  warm, dry and sunny, w2 - Very few moths in the trap this morning with just Gold Spot of any note. Likewise grounded migrants were hard to come by with only a couple of Willow Warblers and a Chiffchaff in the garden. On the desert a steady trickle of Whimbrels, Yellow Wagtails, Sand Martins and Swallows passed overhead, plus the first group of Mipits this autumn. Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and Marsh Harrier all noted.
While feral Greylags aren`t everyone`s favourite birds they do make an impressive spectacle when over 500 fly over the site gabbling away before landing on the lake.
NB: Around the Peninsula today the Wryneck was reported at Galloways, while a Pectoral Sandpiper was seen briefly on ARC, plus Black Tern, Black-necked Grebe, Osprey and Great White Egret also on the bird reserve (MH, PB et al).

Great White Egret & Wryneck

Lade - 0700hrs - cool, cloudy, nw2 - A chilly start to the day soon improved as the sun broke through by mid-morning. There were few grounded migrants around the local patch this morning with just  one or two Willow Warblers and Common Whitethroats, 12 Yellow Wagtails and 50 Sand Martins over the water. However, there were plenty of Sedge and Reed Warblers in the reed swamp and a wide range of birds across the site including waders coming off the bay - 100 Curlew, 50 Oystercatchers, 7 Redshanks and 2 Ringed Plovers; around the margins - Green and Common Sandpipers, Greenshank and Snipe; and overhead 5 Whimbrels. On south lake 4 Shelducks, Wigeon and Red-crested Pochard, Sandwich and Common Terns over, plus 2 Marsh Harriers and a Common Buzzard behind the `mirrors`. Bird of the morning however was a Great White Egret in the far reedbed, presumably one of the birds from the bird reserve.

                                Dabchicks, Lade

                                Redshanks, Lade

A decent night in the moth trap too with Jersey Tiger new for the year, plus first Angle Shades and Poplar Hawk-moth for a while.
Galloways - Called in by the S bend this afternoon where I had brief views of the Wryneck (202) feeding on the deck then flying up into an elderberry bush. Also noted a scattering of Wheatears, Whinchats and Stonechats.

                                        Angle Shades, Lade

                                Poplar Hawk-moth, Lade

                                  Jersey Tiger, Lade

NB: Elsewhere today a Honey Buzzard flew over Littlestone while several Curlew Sandpipers were on ARC (MH).

Swallows & Martins

Lade - 0700hrs - mild, dry and sunny, sw 2 - 4 Following a muggy, still night it was no surprise that the trap was full of moths this morning including Gold Spot, Dark Sword-grass and White-point.
Slim pickings on the bird migration front apart from the first noticeable Swallow movement of the autumn (c100 south), plus 30 Sand Martins over south lake and Green Sandpiper and Greenshank around the margins. A scattering of Willow Warblers and Common Whitethroats, 5 Yellow Wagtails and a Whimbrel over was about it.

                                        White-point, Lade

Rye Harbour NR - Had to go to Rye station this morning, so called in at the beach reserve. All the expected waders including 200 Golden Plovers, 5 Grey Plovers, 2 Greenshanks and a Whimbrel. Several Yellow Wagtails, Wheatears, Linnets and a Mipit also noted on Flat Beach.
NB: A Wryneck was reported from Galloways this morning with another on Dungeness (MH). On the bird reserve Great White Egret and Black-necked Grebe and a scattering of waders on ARC.

Another day in paradise...

Lade - warm, dry, sunny, misty start, n 2 - sw 2 - A few decent moths in the trap last night including Square Spot Rustic, new for the year, Cream-bordered Cream Pea, Lychnis and Yellow Belle.
Flogged over the shingle where migrants were hard to come by, but eventually tallied up 10 each of Willow Warbler and Common Whitethroat, 2 Wheatears and singles of Lesser Whitethroat and Spotted Flycatcher, plus 5 Yellow Wags and a Tree Pipit over. On south lake Common and Green Sandpipers, 2 Greenshanks and 50 Sand Martins.

                                     Cream-bordered Cream-pea, Lade

                                     Campion, Lade

                                    Yellow Belle, Lade

ARC - From Hanson hide 480 Lapwings, 160 Golden Plovers, 4 Greenshanks, 2 Snipe and a Redshank, plus all the usual wildfowl including 2 Garganeys, 8 Wigeon and a Black-necked Grebe, 5 Little and one Great White Egret, Sandwich Tern, Marsh Harrier and Sparrowhawk.

                                Sandwich Tern, ARC

Lade - Good numbers of Willow Warblers, Common Whitethroats and a Spotted Flycatcher snapping up insects in back garden trees this evening in the warm sunshine.
NB:  Late news this evening of a Wryneck at Galloways (T&B H).

Sand Martins

Lade - 0700hrs - warm dry and sunny, n 2 - A distinctly damp, autumnal feel first thing, but it quickly warmed up as the sun rose. Following a clear night it did not bode well for migrant hunting this morning and so it proved to be with only a scattering of Common Whitethroats of note in the Mockmill Sewer scrub, plus 5 Yellow Wagtails over, 2 Wheatears, Whinchat and, surprisingly, a Pied Flycatcher in the willows. On south lake the Red-crested Pochard was still present, plus Common and Green Sandpipers around the margins.

                                Red-crested Pochard, Lade

However, spectacle of the morning went to a couple of hundred Sand Martins that were hawking insects low over the desert scrub. We sat amongst them as they flitted around us only yards away; even Barney seemed impressed. Periodically they flopped onto a shingle mound, twittering away to one another and then suddenly, en-masse, up and away they went south, no doubt crossing the Channel in the fine weather. By nightfall they were probably roosting in a reed bed somewhere down the French coast.

                                Sand Martins, Lade Desert

Lade Bay - 1730hrs - A very pleasant walk along the beach to Greatstone this evening on a falling tide which left thousands of cockles stranded and gasping along the tideline gloop; mind you, the gulls, waders and even a few crows weren`t complaining. Several juv Sanderlings fed only yards away and were so confiding they didn`t even fly when Barney was snuffling around close by. Out on the bay the five main species of shorebirds were present in similar numbers to yesterday, plus a lone Barwit. On the walk back a massive hatch of flying insects swarmed off the shingle attracting hundreds of Black-headed Gulls.  Singles of Wheatear and Yellow Wagtail also noted.

                                Cockles, Lade Bay

                                Juvenile Sanderling, Lade Bay

NB: Other news around the Peninsula today included a scattering of Pied Flycatchers, Wryneck near Long Pits (per MH) and an Osprey over Burrowes (SB).

After the Lord Mayor`s Show...

Lade - 0630hrs - mild, dry, warm, sunny, nw 2 - ne 3 - Following on from the excitement of yesterday this morning was back to more mundane fare with just a scattering of Willow Warblers and Common Whitethroats in gardens, and Wheatears and Yellow Wagtails on the storm beaches across Lade. However, many more Sand Martins were coming and going than yesterday, some of whom had plonked down on the shingle for a breather.
On the moth front migrant Dark Sword-grass was new for the year in the garden trap, plus Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet.

                               Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet, Lade

At the Kerton Road Café a whole host of goodies were in the fridge including Chevron, Jersey Tiger, Small Phoenix, Clouded Buff, Yellow-barred Brindle, Lesser Treble Bar and the very localised Tawny Wave, a Red Data book moth whose nearest known breeding sites are along the Suffolk coast, although it may have been an immigrant. Also of note in the café garden a Pied Flycatcher.

                                 Chevron, KRC

                                    Jersey Tiger, KRC

Dungeness - At The Patch 3 Black Terns amongst the expected gulls and Common Terns, plus a Fulmar west. On the land a scattering of Whinchats, Wheatears, Willow Warblers, Common Whitethroats, plus Yellow Wagtails and a Tree Pipit (201) over calling.

                                Sanderling and Dunlin, Lade Bay

Lade -1800hrs -  Checked out the bay this evening in the company of Marshman where a mixed flock of 50 Sanderlings and Dunlin were feeding close to shore along with 2 Ringed Plovers. Further out on the bay 280 Curlews, 500 Oystercatchers, 50 Sandwich Terns, 10 Common Terns and hundreds of gulls.