My retirement started with a rush of rarities. On April 30 I went straight down to Portland Bill and in the early evening saw a Collared Flycatcher. I then had an early night with a 3 am start on Friday morning to get to Dungeness for first light. My younger son Dave came with me to add a new bird to his life list. Once there, finding the Crested Lark was not a problem, we just followed a group of birders who started running over the shingle just as we got out of the car, having just found it. We had a good look round the Dungeness area, seeing Hobby, Marsh Harrier and several newly arrived migrants, singing for all they were worth. A Jay was a Dungeness rarity and looked quite incongruous as it flew in from the sea. We saw some nice moths at the Dungeness observatory, including a Light Feathered Rustic of the pale "shingle" form.



















Dragonflies were very much in evidence, including a fine male Hairy Dragonfly - Brachytron pratense.

























I tried several times to photograph singing Sedge Warblers and they invariably dropped into the vegetation as soon as a camera pointed at them. This one was more of an exhibitionist.