This weekend we have seen an influx in migrant birds stopping at Dungeness before their arduous journey to Africa for the winter. We've had over 2,000 sand martins feeding around our Denge Marsh area last week and by now these would have crossed the Channel and be flying over Europe. These incredible birds are the first to leave us when the summer comes to an end. Sand martins are the smallest European hirundines (martins and swallows), with dark brown upper parts and dark under wings contrasting with otherwise pale under parts divided by a distinctive dark chest bar. They are incredibly agile fliers, feeding mainly over water, they will perch on overhead wires or branches. Sand martins are summer visitors to the UK. they are one of the first spring migrants to appear, arriving mid-March to mid-April. Sand martins are very sociable and nest in colonies, which may contain more than 100 pairs. They excavate tunnels in sandy, dry vertical banks in sand pits and gravel pits, railway cuttings, riverbanks and sea-cliffs, and exceptionally in drainpipes in walls, and holes in brickwork.
Sand martins - Graham Parry
Black terns are also making their way back through again on their autumn passage. We have had up to 11 of them seen on the reserve, mostly feeding over Burrowes Pit. We've also seen a black-necked grebe a few times over at ARC and a family of little grebes have frequently been seen by Christmas Dell hide. We've had spotted redshank around and the wood and green sandpapers have continued to be seen on the reserve.
Bearded tit fledglings have also been seen frequently. Here's a lovely photograph of one on our reserve:
Juvenile bearded tit - Graham Parry
We set moth traps a few times a week here on the reserve and we record the moth abundance and different species that we find. Some unusual ones came to our traps last week which included the Jersey tiger and pale grass eggar moth. The Jersey tiger is a fairly rare moth and isn't found in this area often. The pale grass eggar is a colour variation of the grass eggar and the pale variety is unique to the Dungeness peninsular.
Jersey tiger
Pale grass eggar