A call from Ross last night 'encoraged' me to make an early start (05:30) for a short seawatch at Dungeness. Met Ross & John on the shingle bank at 06:15, they had therir comfy chairs out, all that was lacking was a knotted hankerchief on their heads...and a few Pomarine Skuas. The latter was soon rectified with 3x superb Poms flying east giving excellent if distant views...fantastic. Arctic and Great Skua, Artic and Sandwich Tern, Common Scoter, Red-breasted Merganser, Little Gull, Garganey and Harbour Porpoise were all added to the list before I took a wander into the 'desert' with Steve (of Furnance Pond fame). Almost immediately he picked out 2x Ring Ouzels chacking in the gorse - a persistent chase eventually gave good views of a male but not long enough for Steve to photograph.
After seeing a number of Wheatear, Willow Warbler, ChiffChaff and Common Lizard, and hearing Black Redstart, round the the moat/trapping area I stalked Ross and John to the Arc pit where Ross located a Little Ringed Plover. This must have been around 09:40...the same time a Golden oriole was spotted in the trapping area....gutted!!!
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