Made the weekly trip to Dunge today. As usual we started at the ARC where a Smew, 2 Slavonian Grebes and a Goldeneye were seen from the Hanson Hide, and a Water Rail shot across the path on the Willow Trail. A Great White Egret was at the other end of the Pit. From the fishing boats there was a steady flow of Gannets and Kittiwakes, but the highlight was when AP picked out 2 fairly distant Leach's Petrels. They appeared to land on the sea and weren't seen again. These were my first since 2003 at Reculver. After lunch we had a good view of a Bittern in flight from the Dengemarsh Road. A Black Redstart was on one of the Turkey sheds and 2 Egyptian Geese could also be seen from the road. We then drove to the visitor centre and saw 5 Great White Egrets, 4 Little Egrets and a Grey Heron from the Makepeace Hide. A Cattle Egret with cows in the first hayfield made 5 Heron species for the day. We returned to the Scott hide where 2 Little Gulls flew past and a Ruddy Duck could be seen. There were also 3 Yellow-legged Gulls on Burrows.

 

Great White Egrets and a Little Egret

Tufted Duck