Although listed in most moth guides as ‘common’, in my experience the Lappet is seldom encountered at light traps. This one was caught on the 11th July at Cooden Beach Golf Club on the edge of Pevensey Levels, and although not the rarest moth caught that night it was certainly the most weird looking.
An incredibly rare white-tailed plover is currently making its home around the ARC pits and some excellent, close views have been provided from the viewing screen over the past three days. This bird has been seen recently in Rainham and at Slimbridge but has so far remained at Dungeness for a longer period of time and will hopefully continue to do so for some time to come. Having now been on site for a week, the great white egret can also occasionally be seen in the Denge Marsh and a mediterranean gull has taken up residence on the shingle at the end of the main entrance track. Whilst the purple herons remain fervently engaged in feeding behaviour, there is still no sign of any fledglings!
On 7th July I found this Skylark nest with 4 eggs. Today there were 4 chicks filling the nest and pretending to be dried up grass - an excellent camouflage.
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Nikki Gammans from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust ran a very successful bumblebee walk at Hastings Country Park Nature Reserve on Saturday, organised by the Friends of Hastings Country Park Nature Reserve. It was well attended and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the event and went away with new skills in bumblebee identification and learnt a lot about the bumblebee management at the nature reserve. Nikki highly praised the work we have already carried out at the nature reserve in creating large areas of bumblebee habitat.
