RXwildlife Sightings

Sunday 7th Feb 2010. The morning started at 7.30 am, the tide was going down, and the sea was very calm, it was grey and cloudy, which made the light conditions on the sea very good. There is still good numbers of G.C.Grebes but not as many as last weekends,but there was still something to watch on the sea, with the first thing of note being a Razorbill and a adult part summer plumage Med.Gull on the sea. Through the course of the morning there was Gannets plunging into the water,and a few parties of Brent Geese moving east, with the largest flock being of 50. Also small movements of Wigeon,Teal,and 3 Pintail, even a flock of Gadwall on the sea, which is a first for me. About 15 R.T.Divers and 1 B.T.Diver also in the bay. The marsh and the pools are still alive with waders, ducks and geese,with 18 W.F.Geese split into two flocks of six and twelve,there were no Brents at all on the marsh, but the Gray Lags and Canada Geese were about the same as last weeks. Wigeon,Teal,Gadwall were much the same as last week, but there was 120 Shoveler which was a much better number. The diving ducks had no change in numbers, the only difference being additional pair of Ruddy Ducks. Waders Curlew 200, Lapwing 600/800, Golden Plover3, Grey Plover? Oystercatcher.400, Dunlin 150/200, Knot 1east. There was 2 Marsh Harriers one cream head ( with quite a bit of damage to its right wing tip), with the second being a sub adult male. All morning there was very large numbers of Common Gulls moving east over the sea and marsh, and roosting on the beach and the sea, its hard to put number on them,. Good birdwatching Pete.

We had two infrequent avian visitors to our Northiam garden this week.  The first was a reed bunting.  Feeding under the seed feeders, flicking its white edged tail, and hopping about nervously.  For some reason a female house sparrow took great offence to it and kept trying to drive it off.  Graphs on the BTO Garden Birdwatch website show that this time of year is the period when these birds are most likely to turn up in gardens, presumably as food is in short supply in the countryside. The second bird was an early morning arrival, a grey heron. These birds are particularly shy and tend to be seen first thing in the morning.

Perhaps, like me, it was Read the rest of this entry »

The Spotted Redshank and Slavonian Grebe were still showing well from the Parkes Hide this morning, as did a hunting female Marsh Harrier which passed in front of the hide about 8am. Elsewhere, at least four Goldeneye were on Harbour Farm, while 43 Knot and 33 Grey Plover were on the shore and about 30 Gannet and a Red-throated Diver were offshore. On Long Pit 4 Scaup, 3 Ruddy Duck and a Bittern.

Spotted Redshank from Parkes Hide this morning

On Friday at Winchelsea Beach, in the shelter of some scrub and during a 10 minute period of warm sunshine there was a Small Tortoiseshell, 7 Spot Ladybird and a Honeybee…

The Spotted Redshank that has frequented Ternery pool over the past few weeks and a Slavonian Grebe gave fantastic views from Parkes Hide this morning.

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Highlights from Castle Water over the past few days have included at least 6 Bittern, 9 Smew (3 drake), 4 Goldeneye (2 drake), 18 Pintail, 15 Bearded Tit, 3 Marsh Harrier and 41 Ruff roosting amongst 300 Lapwings.

Bittern infront of the hide Castle Water

Late afternoon today there were 9 Ruff amongst the 526 Lapwing on the flooded fields by the station at Newenden - the first record for TQ82I. Other birds present included 3 Golden Plover, 97 Shoveler, 11 Wigeon and 37 Gadwall. These fields turn up some nice birds, and the resident Whooper Swan is still regularly being seen on the fields on the station side of the road.

Today’s highlights were provided by four smew, 15 goosanders at the eastern end of the ARC pit, two Slavonian grebes, two black-necked grebes, three bitterns (one at the ARC site, one on New Excavations and one at Hooker’s pits) and two peregrines.

A fine selection of waders on Flat Beach Flood today 35 Grey Plover, 36 Ringed Plover, 48 Knot, 50 Dunlin, 70 Golden Plover, 600 Lapwing, 39 Ruff, 28 Redshank, 15 Snipe and 16 Turnstone. Roosting waders along Shore Ridges at high water included 500 Oystercatcher and 60 Sanderling.

Oystercatchers on Shore Ridges

There are always some small creatures to be seen, even in winter, and yesterday, whilst on my knees looking at fungi in Cock Wood, Peasmarsh,  I spotted  this spider on the leaf litter. I was immediately struck by the colouring and how well it merged into the colouring of the dead leaves. Chris Bentley identified it as Agroeca (Liocranidae), probably A. brunnea.