RXwildlife Sightings

I tend to choose garden plants that are good nectar sources for insects. My favourite is Verbena bonariensis which has usurped Budleja as the plant most used by butterflies. Its other benefits - looks good coming up between other plants, grows easily in Northiam, has a very long flowering (and nectar producing) season - June-November, and in the winter birds such as bullfinch occasionally feed on the seed (which means quite a bit of seed gets scattered and plants come up all over the garden next year). This summer along with numerous large whites it has attracted painted lady, peacock, red admiral, and one grand surprise, a Camberwell Beauty which visited us all to briefly on 15 August. It is normally also attractive to hummingbird hawkmoths, although these have not been spotted this summer.

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A good range of waders on Flat Beach this morning included Spotted Redshank, Little Stint, Bar-tailed Godwit, two Knot, 63 Golden Plover and small numbers of Redshank, Dunlin and Ringed Plover, while the shore held a further two Knot and a superb male Grey Plover. This concentration of birds also attracted the attention a Peregrine which was hunting over the Beach Reserve early a.m