29th Apr

A decent drop of rain in the early hours resulted in a small arrival of migrants on the land with the best being a Redstart, a Garden Warbler, two Sedge Warblers and 15 Willow Warblers. There was also a fair bit of movement offshore at various times during the day with three Eiders, a Great Northern Diver, two Manx Shearwaters, three Little Terns, 13 Great Skuas and seven Arctic Skuas of note while a second calendar year Caspian Gull was seen at the Patch along with three Yellow-legged Gulls.

However, the ornithological event of the day (actually night) passed unseen and unheard but was recorded as "NocMig"on the Audiomoth device. Five hours worth of recording produced some incredible totals including 21 calls (probably six individuals) of Little Ringed Plover, 82 Grey Plovers, 244 Whimbrel, 80 Bar-tailed Godwits, 458 Dunlin, 273 Redshank, two Greenshank, 64 (probably 49 individuals) Common Sandpipers, a remarkable 94 calls (probably 41 individuals) of Wood Sandpiper, 15 Green Sandpipers, two series of Little Gull calls and 54 Tree Pipit calls although possibly relating to just four individuals. There are also a good number of unidentified calls which I shall listen to and look at again over the next few days. 

On the insect front my hands and knees searching of the Moat produced another example of the rare beetle Hister quadrimaculatus and two Geotomus (petiti) shieldbugs.

Hister quadrimaculatus   Dungeness   29th April 2020