RXwildlife Sightings

Highlights from Castle Water this morning included, singing Sedge Warbler at the viewpoint and the new excavations, the viewpoint also produced Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Swallow, 14 Sand Martin, Marsh Harrier and a Kingfisher.

One damselfly that is easy to identify in the RX area, both as an adult and a nymph (the aquatic larva) is particularly abundant in our garden pond this spring. It is the large red damselfly, Pyrrosoma nymphula, a species that should be emerging next month.

The nymphs are distinctive in being short and stumpy with square shaped heads (as can be seen in the rubbish photo above!), but what cannot be seen are the distinctive markings on the caudal lamellae. These are the three projections at the end of the body, and they bear a dark cross shaped mark near their broad end. Immediately after the cross-mark these lamellae narrow abruptly to a sharp projection. I am sure it was this species that was captured on the edge of our pond and eaten by a wren in the winter. Read the rest of this entry »

Butterfly Conservation will be holding a Public Meeting on Thursday 27th March, 7:30pm at Beckley Village Hall. Come along and find out about the wildlife and woodlands in the area and how you can be part of this exciting project. Alternatively call in at the Hall between 1pm and 6pm to see the displays.

 
Enhancing Woodlands for Wildlife, between Robertsbridge and Rye
between the Rother and the Brede. Project Officer: Steve Wheatley 01580 879958 swheatley@butterfly-conservation.org.uk

Against a soundtrack of lambs, Jackdaws and Common Gulls, there was an interesting variety of birds in this small area, easily accessible on public footpaths along the south side of the Brede.
Water Pipits were disturbed a few times from shallow floods on grassland, though they were typically fugitive and it was hard to know how many there were. Similarly unobliging and not showing well was a newly-arrived Little Ringed Plover, which could be heard calling for a while before those calls receded northwards. Still hanging on along the river were Green Sandpiper, Water Rail & Kingfisher.
We could see plenty of ducks in the distance, including Tufted & Shelduck and Buzzards overhead.
Up the Doleham stream, we had close views of a hunting Barn Owl and from the thinned-out railway woodland came an encouraging range of birdsong including Nuthatch, Coal Tit, Goldcrest, Green & GS Woodpecker and Mistle Thrush.

The first Sedge Warbler of the year was reported from The viewpoint this morning, as well as at least four Bearded Tit. On the Beach Reserve, at least three Wheatear were feeding on the short grass near the river mouth (with another four on Harbour Farm), while two Avocet were present on the Wader Pool mid-morning.

SUNDAY 23/03/08. High tide was around 10.30 am, it was cold with wintery showers. There was not much moving at all, but there was something to watch in the form of  large rafts of  Common Scoters with at least 6-800 ducks fishing not far off shore , and joined by 2 Velvet Scoters. Also in the bay G.C.Grebes and a couple of  R.T.Divers. The only other birds of note was my first sighting of a Sandwich Tern of the Spring which flew over the pools and a Raven on fields just behind the wader pool.

Just continuing a subject from earlier posts by myself and Matthew Denny I am returning to the palmate newt, our smallest newt species. As well as the dorsal stripe I described in the juveniles, and the unspotted pink throat of the adults, the breeding males are particularly distinctive. The name comes from the prominent black webs on the hind-feet of the male (see below). In addition during the breeding season the body is quite square shaped in cross section and the tip of the tail looks as if it has been cut off, and all that has grown back is a long, sender filament. Recently it has been noted that the females can also be distinguished by a pale white tubercle on the back foot that is lacking in the smooth newt. Although the males lack the tall crests and bright orange belly of the smooth and great crested newt (often having a yellowish or cream belly) the dorsal colouration is attractive with a pattern of fine golden speckles around the head.

It is interesting that Matthew found this amphibian in ditches in the Brede Valley. Read the rest of this entry »

Very quite this morning on the Beach Reserve the only highlights were, two Avocet (pictured) feeding on the Wader Pool and a Marsh Harrier on Harbour Farm.

Today’s high tide looked higher than the predicted, so I looked for a website that might give some more information. The Dover Tide Gauge page shows that the tide was almost a metre higher than predicted and this was partly due to the very low air pressure of 988mb. You can see predicted tides for Rye Harbour on the Environment Agency’s website.

Thursday 20: A bittern was seen from the viewpoint at Hooker’s pits, a black redstart was by the path to Hide 1 and chiffchaffs were still present in good numbers.

Friday 21: The day started well with a male garganey seen from the Visitor Centre but unfortunately it soon disappeared and was not found again until 15.45 when it put in a brief appearance at Makepeace hide.
The Slavonian grebe that has spent most of the winter on the New Excavations made the brief trip to Burrowes pit where it could be seen from Scott hide. It is starting to gain its summer plumage so is well worth a look. Other highlights on a blustery but fine day included a peregrine over Burrowes pit, snipe seen from Firth hide and wheatear by the access track.