A day of dismal weather but good birds continue to appear. The highlight was a Hoopoe which spent most of the day in a small area of beach near the fishing boats. Five Lapland Buntings were also seen in the same general area. Seawatching produced 14 Arctic Skuas and a Great Skua and there were 20 Black Terns at the Patch. The flock of 18 Glossy Ibis were still on the RSPB Reserve.
From DBO website.
While trying to find a fault on the electric fence this morning I came across a squashbug, that was new to me, taking shelter from the wind behind one of the wire insulators. The rather pointed extremities to the pronotum immediatley made me think of a bug I had recently read about in a book I had bought this summer on shield and squashbugs. So I was amazed to find that the bug was a Box Bug (Gonocerus acuteangulatus), this RDB1 species was traditionally found only from Box Hill in Surrey but has been expanding its range, food plants and habitats in recent years, it was first recorded in Sussex in 2002. Click here for more bug info. I also found 8 Forest Bug (Pentatoma rufipes) using the same strategy to hide from the wind.
Box Bug taking shelter from the wind behind insulator.
Highlight this morning was a mobile Pectoral Sandpiper, first on the Quarry, then Ternery Pool were it was last seen in flight over Harbour Farm, additional interest was provided by 150 Linnet along Shore Ridges and an Arctic Skua offshore.
There are certain plants you expect to find on a shingle beach. There are others you expect to find on sand dunes. But in the Dungeness area there are a limited range of species that seem to favour the edge between these two habitats, to the extent that it is difficult to determine if they are dune or shingle beach species. One of these is saltwort Salsola kali.
This is an annual plant that grows on the drift-lines and therefore is one of the very limited range of species that Read the rest of this entry »
