A trickle of movement offshore included 18 Shelducks, four Teal and four Mediterranean Gulls and an Arctic Skua, and 23 Sanderling and 18 Dunlin were on the beach at high tide. Two Willow Warblers were seen at the Long Pits and two Yellow Wagtails flew over.
A Grey Seal was feeding offshore.
An Eastern Bordered Straw was the unexpected highlight from the moth traps. 
Eastern Bordered Straw Heliothis nubigera Dungeness 18th July 2026
A Treecreeper and two Willow Warblers were seen at the Long Pits and 1000 Sand Martins went out to sea in the afternoon/evening. There were 25 Mediterranean Gulls offshore.
A Porpoise and a Grey Seal were feeding offshore.
A decent catch of moths overnight included a Red Underwing, a Small Ranunculus, a rare gelechid Metzneria neuropterella, two Cydia amplana and the pyralids Aglossa pinguinalis (only the fourth Observatory record) and Acrobabsis tumidana.
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| Small Ranunculus Hecatera dysodia Dungeness 17th July 2026 |
A Southern Oak Bush-cricket was also caught and a Mediterranean Stick-insect was seen in the Observatory garden.
However, the highlight of the day was a Gull-billed Tern which dropped into ARC briefly. Remarkably it was a bearing a colour-ring from a German ringing scheme. Despite extensive searching it could not be relocated.
Very windy and hot yet again. A couple of checks of the sea produced 25 Mediterranean Gulls but very little else.
A Brussel's Lace and six Small Mottled Willows were of note from the moth traps.
A Porpoise and two Grey Seals were feeding offshore.
Hard work in the very hot and windy conditions and nothing of any note seen.
The moth traps produced an example of the scarce pyralid moth Acrobasis tumidana.
The heatwave and strong to gale force NE wind continues. Very little to be seen other than eleven Mediterranean Gulls and 35 Sandwich Terns offshore this morning.
A Porpoise and a Grey Seal were seen offshore.
Virtually unbirdable today with the gale force NE wind blowing. As the wind finally dropped a bit in the evening a look at the sea produced a feeding flock of 28 Common Scoters and 51 Mediterranean Gulls and 28 Sandwich Terns moving east.
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| Common Scoters Melanitta nigra Dungeness 13th July 2026 |
Six Porpoise and a Grey Seal were feeding offshore.
Still very hot but now very windy and little to be seen Two Mediterranean Gulls were feeding offshore and 27 Sand Martins and seven Yellow Wagtails passed through.
Increasingly windy and little to report other than 100 Mediterranean Gulls and 50 Sandwich Terns feeding offshore this morning.
Still very hot and sultry. Overhead passage was limited to 12 Swifts, two Whimbrel, 200 Sand Martins, 20 Swallows and 14 Yellow Wagtails. in the evening, 50 Mediterranean Gulls and 50 Sandwich Terns were feeding off the fishing boats.
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| Sandwich Tern Thalasseus sandvicensis Dungeness 8th July 2026 A few juvenile birds are starting to appear now. |
Two Porpoises and four Grey Seals were feeding offshore and a Brown Hare was seen in the Desert.
Fish don't feature very often on this site but this evening I saw two superb Starry Smoothhounds caught by a beach angler weighing 8lb 3oz and 7lb 14oz respectively. They were both safely returned.
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| Starry Smoothhound Mustelus asterias Dungeness 9th July 2026 |
The moth traps produced the pyralid Dioryctria simplicella (send Obs record), the tortrix Cydia amplana, two Brussels Lace and six Small Mottled Willows. A Southern Oak Bush-cricket was also caught.
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| Cydia amplana and Dioryctria simplicella Dungeness 9th July 2026 |
One Red-veined Darter was seen.