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Local weather

Update

The Observatory can accommodate up to 9 people in two dormitories, you need to bring your own sleeping bags and it is self-catering. As well as Birdwatchers, we welcome people from many areas of interest including Moths, Butterflies, Bugs and Beetles or just a general interest in Nature and the local environment. Please forward any Dungeness recording area records to the Warden.
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22nd May

Very quiet in windy conditions. Three Mediterranean Gulls were feeding at the Patch and the Turtle Dove was seen in the Trapping Area again.

 One Porpoise was feeding offshore.

 A Clouded Yellow butterfly was seen but the moth trap was a bit disappointing with the best being this Oak-tree Pug - only the fourth record for the Observatory trap.
Oak-tree Pug Eupithecia dodoneata   Dungeness   22nd August 2020
In addition, some exciting news just in regarding a cockroach found at Dungeness. I first became aware of them in August 2015 while looking for Tree Crickets when I saw and caught some individuals which I could not satisfactorily identify. I posted a few images on our (old) website asking for help but they generated very little interest and the story sort of ended there for a while. However, I have continued to see occasional individuals each autumn since then but they have been difficult to see, let alone catch. The problem of their identity has nagged away at me though and on October 9th 2018 I discovered one on the wall of the Observatory presumably attracted to the moth trap light. I potted it up and to cut a long story short the specimen ended up with Professer Horst Bohn at the University of Munich. He has now identified it as Ectobius montanus and is a new species for Britain. Even more remarkably it is previously not known to occur outside of Italy. Obviously many thanks to Horst and also Bjorn Beckman and Judith Marshall for their help along the way. 


Ectobius montanus   male   Dungeness   October 9th 2018
And images of the 2015 individuals.
Ectobius montanus   male   August 22nd 2015
Ectobius montanus   male  August 23rd 2015

Ecobius montanus   female   August 23rd 2015


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