After a cold, misty start it turned into a lovely, warm spring day and with a good deal of interest on both land and at sea. The first Willow Warblers and three Blackcaps of the year were seen along with three Firecrests and 14 Wheatears. A Red Kite also flew over and other raptors seen during the day included a Buzzard, a Marsh Harrier, two Merlins and at least one interloping male Peregrine Falcon which was quickly sent packing by the resident pair.
I also ran the AudioMoth last night and whilst it was very quiet with just Canada Goose, Greylag Goose and four Coot it was well worth it in the end with a very close Stone Curlew calling at 0255hrs.
A 3.5 hour seawatch from first light was quite busy although most of the birds passing through were very distant. Of note were two Shelduck, 19 Shovelers, 770 Common Scoters, two Red-breasted Mergansers and 58 Sandwich Terns. A second calendar year Glaucous Gull joined the regular Iceland Gull at the Patch and two Mediterranean Gulls were also feeding offshore.
At least 25 Porpoise were feeding offshore throughout the day.
The warm weather induced a few butterflies onto the wing with ten Peacocks, four Small Tortoiseshells and a Small White being seen.
There was also plenty to be seen elsewhere around Dungeness with a drake Garganey at Dengemarsh, the Glossy Ibis at Boulderwall, three Black-necked Grebes on New Diggings, at least two more Red Kites, three singing Sedge Warblers and at 12 Yellow Wagtails at Scotney.