Thursday 21 June 2012

Summer Solstice


Lade - 0500hr - After dancing naked around the Lade (Stonehenge of the Marsh) `mirrors` at sunrise (in my dreams)... I woke up and checked the moth trap... 16 species with Grass Emerald new for the year.
Dungeness - 0845hrs - mild, muggy, misty, se2 - After the rain band had passed over strolled down to the Patch where a hundred or so Common Terns and assorted gulls swirled over the boil. On the beach 8 Sandwich Terns and 20 Common Terns, one of which was a 1st summer bird (aka Portlandica) a plumage stage rarely seen in this country. A 1st summer Little Gull also came in to land and preen.
Along the power station wall a weary looking adult male Black Redstart gave a few bursts of song before dropping down to feed on the insect-rich sward below.
                                          1st summer, Common Tern, Patch

                                          1st summer Little Gull, Patch


                                          Black Redstart, Power Station

Dengemarsh 1500hrs - Very muggy and stormy with thunder and lightening out over the Channel and bursts of heavy rain, warm though. The usual Marsh Harriers and a Hobby, Common Terns and moulting Pochards.

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