RXwildlife Sightings

A Spoonbill appeared on Carter’s Flood this afternoon. The bird was restless however, and soon departed for a tour of the Levels. It was last seen strutting through the Cormorant roost at Pett Pools.

While surveying butterflies around the Barn Field today, I came across a number of Xysticus crab spiders on fence posts. Several had prey, including a St Mark’s Fly and even another spider (Zora spinimana). Crab spiders hunt by stealth, ambushing their prey on low lying vegetation (or fence posts!). They have a very potent venom, as they often hunt flying insects, and don’t want to lose them before the venom takes effect. For larger insects they will even hang on to the prey for dear life as it flies away!

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Highlights this morning were, 17 Avocet and 4 Little Ringed Plover on the Beach Reserve. At Castle Water 3 Greenshank and 2 Garganey.

Another relatively sparse catch this morning, though a couple of interesting micros did turn up. Ethmia bipunctella is a striking black and white moth the larvae of which feed on the flowers and leaves of Viper’s Bugloss. Its foodplant preferences make this species something of a shingle specialist, and while rare nationally it is not uncommon at Rye Harbour.

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This species (Umbilicus rupestris), named from the dimples in its fleshy, rounded leaves, is characteristic of our area, where it grows on the sandstone exposures of the old cliff-line and on walls in Winchelsea.

This is an isolated population of an essentially western species, remaining here as a relic of a former climatic era. Does its local range extend as far west as Hastings?

My return walk-to-work on Tuesday produced 81 species. There aren’t a lot of places in the UK where such a variety of birds can be found in such a small area, and the number here relies very much on the close proximity of a wide range of habitats. Although the presence of such species as Raven and Marsh Harrier helps, the list is mostly made up of common birds, some of which sometimes seem to vanish completely. For instance, both Goldcrest and Treecreeper breed right by the school gates in Winchelsea but have remained invisible/inaudible for about ten days, while I can hear the newly-arrived Spotted Flycatchers in the trees but sometimes don’t set eyes on them till late in the month.