Dungeness 22/08/26

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A mostly sunny day though with a cool northerly breeze.

We spent much of the day on the RSPB reserve which had a nice assembly of terns from the Firth Lookout. Best was a juvenile White-winged Tern, with a couple of juv Black Terns also present. It took a while to get my eye in when identifying these in flight as the WW Tern had a relatively pale saddle, however these birds have a jizz similar to that of a Little Gull I've always thought. Speaking of Little Gulls we later saw a winter plumage individual from the 'Makepeace' hide.

A couple of Little Stint and a Ruff were also seen from the Firth Lookout.

After that Dave Bunney kindly let us view some birds in his garden including a female type Common Redstart, a Pied Flycatcher, and a couple of Willow Warblers. Several Hummingbird Hawkmoths were also present with a Clouded Yellow fly by.

The final stop was to the ARC pit, admiring four Painted Ladies, plus a Red Admiral and Peacock before reaching the Hanson hide.

Both Wood and Green Sandpiper were seen on the ARC, 2-3 of the former though all fairly distant. Amongst the numerous ducks mostly in eclipse plumage one closest to the hide appeared to be a Garganey, though without the typical face pattern as no obvious pale spot at the base of the bill. However, the general consensus of opinion still pointed to that species.

Juvenile White-winged Tern 




White-winged Tern 


Black Tern and Common Terns 

Black Tern juvenile 

Black Tern 

Little Stint

Garganey 

Painted Lady 


 

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