RXwildlife Sightings

A Red Kite was over Winchelsea mid-morning, departing up the Brede Valley.

Robbie Gooders

Male Common Terns are busy catching food for their mates, who need a constant supply of food to build their eggs. At the Crittall Hide at Ternery Pool some males are fishing, or rather shrimping, right in front, giving lots of opportunity to catch them mid dive… but I failed to get a photo of just the head in the water.

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As with the moths, the warm weather has tempted out the dragonflies and damselflies. The weekly count today found several ‘damsels’ including Large Red Damselfly (near Castle Water Hide, the only place they occur on the reserve), Common Blue Damselfly and Blue-tailed Damselfly. Immatures of the latter species occur in a range of colour forms, including blue/green, violet and a delightful pink form (below). The only ‘dragon’ on the wing at the moment is Hairy Hawker (see here), perhaps the rarest regularly occurring species on the reserve.

This morning I completed my first walk for the BTO’s Breeding Bird Survey. A Common Sandpiper was on the edge of the Royal Military Canal and a number of Shelduck were prospecting rabbit burrows. The highlight of the walk was a flock of sixteen Greenshank that flew high eastwards.

After a dismal April, when six trapping days produced a total of eight moths, the warm May weather has at last brought some action! Over the last couple of days the Lime Kiln Moth trap has held a small but interesting range of species including Oblique Striped, Puss Moth, Yellow Belle and Cinnabar. The commonest species in the trap at the moment is Muslin Moth (below). The image shows a male, with comb-like antennae and a soft grey colouration - females lack the comb and look quite different, replacing the grey with white.

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