Hobbies have been present in good numbers all week with a maximum of 11 seen on 4th. Two black-tailed godwits and two avocets were seen on 6th. A turtle dove was at the ARC pit from 1st to 3rd and a little owl also put in a brief appearance on 1st. A drake garganey could be seen loafing in front of Firth hide for most of the day today and a few swifts continued to pass through.
With the return of sunnier and warmer conditions this morning the Downy Emeralds were back on the wing. This time preferring the calmer and warmer conditions of the sheltered bays on the main pit, opposite the small pools. Exellent views can be had if you stand still in the clearings at the waters edge and wait for a patroling male to start a bout of hovering, the bright green eyes is an obvious feature to look for.
In this case a cuckoo bumblebee Bombus vestalis. This species takes over the nests of the buff tailed bumblebee Bombus terrestris, to rear the next generation of cuckoos. This was a freshly emerged male, observed feeding on Echium pininana in Northiam at the beginning of this week. The males have slightly longer antennae than the females and do not survive through the winter.
Although superficially similar to the host bumblebee the cuckoo can be recognised by the yellow marking adjacent to the white tail - unusally in this specimen forming a band - often the yellow occurs as a triangle above either side of the white tail. This specimen is a variant that has an additional pale yellow band on the first segment of the abdomen. These bees have a sparser covering of hairs on the abdomen than their hosts, and the female does not collect pollen, relying on the food provisioned by their host to rear her young in the spring.
Yesterday after several attemps at trying to find exuvia of Black-tailed skimmer, one was found at the northern end of Castle Water. This species can be common around Castle Water during the summer months, and since lots of tenerals are now being found amongst the long grass, I was surprised it took so long to find an exuvia. The picture below shows the difference in shape to Four-spotted Chaser exuvia, which is on the right, these are being found at many locations around Castle Water.
The Black-headed gull chicks at Ternery Pool are growing up quickly, fledged young can now be seen around the pit margins exercising their wing muscles or flying around the islands, the individual pictured below is not far away from its maiden flight. The Oystercatcher (pictured below) chicks at Crittall Hide are aslo growing quickly and can give great views from the hide. A new brood of Shelduck chicks were also at Parkes hide this morning.
