Our last Moth Night of the year is this Saturday 10th October at 4:30pm (note the earlier time). It's free to come along, chat with local experts, see what species have been caught recently.

An update this morning, only one half of the road is closed so you can access through to Sandwich Bay all fine.

Please note that roadworks are due to begin along Sandown Rd tomorrow and access to Sandwich Bay from Sandwich Town may be difficult. It is unclear at the moment if there will be a full road closure or just one lane.

We would love to see you all tomorrow (Sunday 27th) for the annual Big Bird Migration Day. There will be walks and talks to attend, crafts and optics to peruse, food and drink to consume, and lots of great wildlife to see.

This is most probably C hyale, which is a highly mobile migrant species from C Europe. Adults cannot be distinguished from C alfacariensis. However that seems to be a sedentary species from calcareous grassland with Hippocrepis, hardly known from outside its habitat patches.

A closer look at a presumed helice Clouded Yellow (C.crocea) from the Sandwich Bay Estate yesterday. Restricted black on trailing edge of hindwing, pale submarginal spots not encircled in black, and washed out yellow ground colour look good for Pale/Berger's Clouded Yellow (C.hyale/alfacariensis)?

So thrilled to finally see a dotterel, and in Kent. Thank goodness for all the more skilled birders who arrived at sandwich bay two hours after I started looking, found it in a few mins and put me onto it. 🙏

Dotterel on the beach @sandwichbirdobs.bsky.social this afternoon.

Smart Curlew Sandpiper at Restharrow @sandwichbirdobs.bsky.social this afternoon.

Lots a Willow warblers, Chiffchaffs and Long-tailed tits in the Pegwell bushes. 🙂

My eye was drawn to this pretty flower …. @obsidentify.bsky.social tells me it’s Viper’s Bugloss … complete with the caterpillar of the Ethmia bipunctella moth. They were everywhere today I kept finding them all over my trousers too 🤷🏻‍♀️ @sandwichbirdobs.bsky.social @themarshtit.bsky.social

Presumed same bird re-appeared. Mobile and elusive is an understatement.