Dungeness in August
The weather forecast was for a very hot, sunny day and the start of the second heat wave of the summer. It was very hot, when we returned to the car the temperature was 34 degrees but it hadn’t stopped what was a good day.
As we drove past Ninfield there were 3/4 Hobbies in the air making it a good possibility that we would see a few at the viewing platform. We went to ARC first and made our way straight to Hanson hide where we were greeted by 6 Black Tailed Godwits feeding in the very shallow water. There were plenty of waterfowl on view and numerous Great White Egrets and Little Egrets. The air above the water was alive with Swallows and Sand Martins, Adam was quick enough to catch a Sand Martin in flight, no mean feat.
We wanted to try and arrange a meeting with some of the local volunteers and/or staff in order to volunteer so we kmde our way to the reception are where we were warmly greeted, hopefully we will be volunteering in the next few weeks.
The initial start of the lap of the reserve was a little disappointing but all was forgotten when we arrived at Dengemarsh. Just like ARC there were a lot of birds on display including Common Terns and their fledgelings. The water level was again very low but the promised Cattle Egrets were not present. On our walk around the reserve there were a lot of dragonflies, Adam managed to catch the image below but we both need to do sone work in order to help identify the different species.
As we left the reserve we decided to give ARC one last go as we had failed to see the Glossy Ibis and one had been reported. Instead of going to the hide this time we went to the screen and were fortunate enough to catch sight of two birds if a little distant and in the process of flying away.
A good day of birding.
