We have established a weather station at Rye Harbour that gives live information and access to the recent history. There are two ways to view it, for a detailed version click here, or for a simpler version click here.
There is an RX weather page, see wildlife weather, in the menu on the left, which also has these links.
An expected drop in numbers as spring gets closer of Little Egret roosting at Castle Water, 29 were counted leaving the roost at dawn. Cettis Warbler, Marsh Harrier, Water Rail and Bearded Tit were also seen from the viewpoint. On the Beach Reserve hundreds of gulls were making the most of the food bounty provided by the recent storms, the low water sand is littered with starfish. 58 Knot (bottom picture), 33 Grey Plover, 65 Sanderling and 140 Dunlin were also feeding along the shore. At Ternery Pool, 26 Mediterranean Gull were present around the islands. And two Avocet were on the new pools on Harbour Farm.
In one of the current herpetological investigations, across the country, fieldworkers are collecting samples of amphibians and retiring to a sheltered place to stroke their bottoms thighs and toes with an implement that looks like a cotton wool bud! It’s all down to a new amphibian disease, Chytrid, that is raising concerns about global amphibian declines (as featured on the recent David Attenborough “Life in Cold Blood” series)
Chytrid has been recently linked with amphibian declines across the world, and was first discovered in the UK, in East Sussex, in 2004 in a population of introduced North American Bullfrogs Lithobates catesbeianus. Read the rest of this entry »