White-tailed Lapwing....At Last!

Last weekend when I dipped the White-tailed Lapwing at Slimbridge I thought that was it, I'd never see it....unless... if by some miracle it stayed at Dungeness until Sunday, because on Sunday my beloved children and one of their friends were going to the London Film and Comic Con at Earls Court. Rob and I were going to drive them as far as Hounslow from where they would take the tube the rest of the way. We hadn't  yet planned on going anywhere for the eight hours or so that they would be at the convention, so (if the bird was still there) Dungeness it was. Once I'd received the news from Bun that the bird was still present on the ARC Pit we continued on to Dungeness, only another couple of hours driving. Rob was thrilled! I had read on Birdforum that over the last couple of days the bird had been distant, I wasn't put off by this though. I wouldn't have cared if it was so distant I needed the Hubble Space Telescope to see it!! As it happens it wasn't distant at all, just further away than it had been and subsequently a 'bit distant' for photographs. It showed well at times but was often lost in the thick vegetation. Not looking directly into the sun would have helped too but I can't complain with the views I got. A superb bird, well worth the effort in the end. We spent around an hour and a half on Denge Marsh Road but weren't lucky enough to see the Purple Heron. We did see the Great White Egret, several times and enjoyed watching a female Marsh Harrier hunting over the marsh for some time. I suppose we should have given it a bit longer but left early to be back at Hounslow in plenty of time to pick up the kids.

Rob Woolley: An extremely rare sight on my blog (can usually be seen out at sea somewhere).

Rob is rubbish at twitching and thinks that after driving for five hours there will ample time for a 

coffee and cigarette before we look for the bird. Wrong! I left him to it and hotfooted it down the track to the ARC pit pronto.
( If you are a fervent environmentalist and have spotted that our Land Rover is the Petrol V8 version, well fear not, it has been converted to run on LPG, thank goodness!) 

The 'most beautiful' ARC Pit.

Another scenic shot.

 The ARC Pit is over the bank to the right. In the extreme distance you can see the assembled birders.

My two 'better' efforts. 

The Art Deco Hounslow West tube station, the nicest thing I spotted in Hounslow.

The Hounslow West tube station carpark. Thrilling eh?

We spent over two hours here waiting for the return of the 'young adults'. The plane in the background was a constant feature. I donned my best anorak and timed their arrival, they came in at one every 90 seconds! 

Bun had the moth trap running last night and it caught another two new moths for the garden, those being

Scarce Silver Lines. Very nice too!

Devonshire Wainscot. A scarce local speciality moth.

There were also a couple of these beasts, not new but I can't get enough of the Four-spotted Footman.

I love those electric blue legs!

Next,  just to show I'm open to requests, a couple more micros especially for Dean ;-)

Garden Pebble

Garden Grass Veneer: Chrysoteuchia culmella 

This afternoon I went to Trinity Hill Woods to see if I could see any Silver-washed Fritillaries, there were at least two males on the wing along with lots of Ringlets, and Small Skippers. 

A few other Invertebrates

Strangalia maculata

Oedemera nobilis

Volucella pellucens

Drone Fly: Eristalis tenax