A visit to Dungeness today to see if any of the fall of migrants earlier in the week had decided to stay around, but first a quick look at the Lydd firing range. Plenty of Linnets here and this rather smart male posed quite nicely on a sprig of Sea Buckthorn.
There were also a few family groups of Stonechats and this male had his own no-go area. He was also in very heavy body moult.
The female was nearby.
Now on to Dungeness but I had forgotten to factor in the Covid effect. So instead of the deserted roads and car parks they were full of cars of people who would normally be in Spain. This is the approach road from the estate entrance to the lighthouse.
However, it was easy to get away from the crowds who were more interested in the pub, cafe and the railway station. By the moat this Kestrel was quite confiding and then put on a fly-past.
On the beach there were several Herring Gulls including a number of brown juveniles which were never far away begging for food.
At one point I turned away to grab a few shots of a smaller gull that was flying past which I had presumed was a Black-headed Gull. However, on closer inspection it turned out to be a Kittiwake, which was nice bonus.
The Sandwich Terns were performing well and would occasionally fish quite close to the beach.
Hours and hours of fun trying to capture these shots.
But the highlight of the day was when we were leaving the fishing boats and walking back to the car when I noticed a small bird flitting around in the front garden of one of the small cottages. Peering through some vegetation I could see that it was a juvenile Pied Flycatcher.
It was quite tricky to photograph because it was into the sun and our options for moving to a more favourable position were limited as it was an occupied private house.
Well what a great day and at least one of the migrants had stayed for a photograph, and as if by careful planning had saved itself to last.
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