I made my spring trip to Dunge at the beginning of the week. I headed down in the late afternoon on Monday 6th. I went straight to the seawatching hide at about 5.30pm. Within 30 mins my first Pomarine Skua went passed and until 7.30pm another 3 flew East. I also had 1 Arctic and 1 high Bonxie over the hide. Then news of a Montagu's Harrier came in over the entrance to the RSPB, so I jumped in with Andy L and made my way round there. We didn't get even close - it might have been a Hen anyway.
Next day I was up at 4.50am and after a walk around an empty moat I headed to the sea again. I stayed until 9.00am and had another 9 Poms, 1 Arctic and 1 Bonxie. Later, back at the sea during the early evening, I had a flock of 8 Velvet Scoter heading East. Elsewhere, I headed over to Scotney to look for the Long-tailed Duck which I found on one of the back pits with a Wood Sandpiper as a bonus. Finishing off at Denge Marsh there was a booming Bittern. Migrants were thin on the ground with only Yellow Wags in any abundance. 3 Hobbies over the Water Tower by ARC was nice though. The trapping area and desert was hard work for a few Chiffs and Willow Warblers.
Finally on the last day, Wednesday 8th, I went for another early seawatch, which was cut short by heavy and persistent rain. It did yield 1 Pom, 8 Velvet Scoter, 1 Roseate Tern and 1 Black Tern.
A total of 94 species over a couple of days wasn't bad, despite no particularly exciting arrivals...
The moth trap only yielded 3 Tawny Shears.
