Wednesday 1 July 2020

Dungeness and Pett Level

Phil and I started at the ARC Pit, where we had no luck with the Gull-billed Tern at the west end but caught a couple of brief glimpses of the male Black-winged Stilt near the screen. A Cuckoo, a few hundred Swifts, two Black-tailed Godwits, a Hobby, two Common Sandpipers, 25 Common Terns (most of these mobbing one Herring Gull on a raft at one point), a Marsh Harrier, four Sand Martins, a House Martin, four Swallows and three Lesser Whitethroats were noted before we made our way to Dungeness Point. There we had a Black Redstart gathering food, three Common Terns at The Patch and a couple of Stonechats. Our final call at Dungeness was a stop at Springfield Bridge, where Dengemarsh offered a pair of Yellow Wagtails, the male in full voice, a Hobby carrying a Swift, two Corn Buntings and a pair of Marsh Harriers.

Yellow Wagtail at Dungeness RSPB

Black Redstart at Dungeness

We finished the day at Pett Level, where it was no less gusty and there was another Common Sandpiper, a Bearded Tit, five Common Terns, a couple of Curlew and another pair of Marsh Harriers. Five Sand Martins flew through.