RXwildlife Sightings

While sampling for dragonfly larvae at Castle Water during the week a Water Stick-insect (Ranatra linearis) turned up in the net. This curious insect is well comouflaged amongst submerged vegetation, were it hangs upside down in a mantis-like pose waiting to grab passing aquatic creatures with its front legs. Once prey has been caught it is injected with saliva which sedates it and begins to break down the body fluid, it is then sucked up through tube-like mouth parts. Water Stick-insects breathe through a pair of breathing pipes (second picture) which extend from their tails and are poked through the water surface.

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A fine morning with light southerly winds were good conditions for a seawatch early this morning, 5 Arctic Terns roosting amongst Common Terns along the shore were an unexpected highlight. 18 Gannet gave close views fishing close inshore which a passing Great Skua tried to take advantage of, an Arctic Skua was also after an easy meal by mobbing fishing terns. Just to add, the long staying Long-tailed Duck has been reported from Long Pit and a Common Seal has pleased many visitors by showing well at the River Mouth.

Water levels remain high on the reserve, above which Lapwings swoop in a constant battle with wily Carrion Crows. Since the first flooding two years ago Redshanks have dropped in to have a look, but for the first time 2 pairs seem settled. A passing flock of 5Whimbrel also dropped out of the sky to rest by a lagoon.
A variety of ducks is still present, raising hopes of breeding species in addition to Mallard and Tufted Duck, while from the reedy ditches come the calls of Little Grebe, Water Rail, Reed Warbler and Reed Bunting. Read the rest of this entry »

Water levels at Pett Pools have been lowered again by the Wetland Trust, in the process of attempted Crassula eradication, and the exposed mud has attracted a few waders over the last 10 days. Yesterday evening the first scarce species - a Temminck’s Stint - was picked out by a sharp-eyed Keith Hackett on the far side of the roadside pool.
This tiny migrant wader occurs in very small numbers most years in the RX area. It is distinctive in a number of ways, but you would need a telescope to appreciate the diagnostic points of this individual which crept along the water’s edge and was obscured by reeds until a line of cattle loomed on the bank above, when it scuttled along and took flight a couple of times. Read the rest of this entry »

Pretty much when you would expect we have had our first emergence of large red damselfly Pyrrhosoma nymphula today, with 5 exuviae on stems of emergent sedges in our pond at Northiam. The nationally scarce cuckoo bee Nomada fucata is also pretty obvious in the garden at the moment.

Also making good use of the warm weather are slow-worm Anguis fragilis. 5 young animals in our garden today, 8 adults and a juvenile grass snake Natrix natrix at Rye and 7 slow-worm adults at a garden in Bexhill, where they were joined by 4 common lizard Zootoca vivipara

Highlights this morning, 28 Avocet were on the various pools on Harbour Farm. 3 Little Gull, Black-tailed and 2 Bar-tailed Godwit were also present on the pools behind Ternery Pool. 10 Little Tern were along Shore Ridges and Yellow Wagtails appeared to be everywhere. Along Narrow Pits 2 Cuckoo were near the barns, a Lesser Whitethroat was in song near Corner Pools and a Hobby passed overhead.

Numbers of Whimbrel roosting on Flat Beach Quarry have been increasing over the past few days, 115 have been counted leaving the roost. Peak counts usually occur around the begining of May, ten Bar-tailed Godwit have also been present.

The other day while tackling some ragwort on Harbour Farm , I decided to sample a small shingle pool that was nearby and had proved interesting last summer. Now that the water levels are starting to drop a small section of the pool (below) had started to become isolated, in about 15 minutes 11 Emperor larvae were collected in various stages of developement.

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A good range of birds today, despite the weather. The new pits on Harbour Farm held 10 Avocet, 1 Little Ringed Plover and small numbers of Mediterranean Gull, Common Tern and Sandwich Tern, while other species included small numbers of Whimbrel and Yellow Wagtail and singing Whitethroat and Corn Bunting. In addition, the first brood of Lapwing was present on the shingle ridges to the west of Ternery Pool. A quick visit to the viewpoint mid-morning found singing Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler and Cetti’s Warbler, and a hunting Marsh Harrier, while Swift, House Martin, Sand Martin and Swallow were also present.

A fine and warmer day produced a small increase in grounded migrants with our first Sedge and Reed Warblers of the year, four Ring Ouzels, 17 Wheatears and 20 Chiffchaffs and a movement of birds overhead including 100 Swallows, a Tree Pipit, 13 Yellow Wagtails and 14 Siskins. Two Marsh Harriers and a Merlin were also seen. There was very little movement offshore except for 78 Whimbrel, 21 Curlew and 11 Mediterranean Gulls but there were 40 Arctic Terns and three Black Terns at the Patch in the evening.

David Walker from DBO website