The seabird colonies have been overflowing with young birds and they are now dispersing around Ternery Pool, giving really good close views and opportunities for photos… especially from the Crittall Hide.
About 300 pairs of Sandwich Tern have raised about 1.5 chicks per pair, so there is much activity, noise and smell.
Today, while surveying a private wood at Udimore for Butterfly Conservation’s Rother Woods Project, Steve Wheatley and his group found a male Golden-ringed Dragonfly patrolling a sunny ride by a pond. This was very unexpected, since the nearest known colonies of this acid-heathland species are in the Ashdown Forest area (though it has been seen at Darwell). This is one of Britain’s largest dragonflies and very distinctive. Although it settled occasionally and very close, I wasn’t quick enough to photograph it, so this photo is of one I took last weekend on a field trip in Ashdown Forest. A return visit later failed to find it, so it may have been just passing through, a chance encounter - though from where, and to where? We also found 5 White Admirals, one of which, with damaged wings, is shown below.
Over the past two days female Brown Hawkers (pictured) have started to emerge from the small pond north of the viewpont, it has been nine days since the first male emerged. In Hawkers such as Brown, Migrant, Hairy and Emperor which are all breeding species on the Nature Reserve, the exuvia can be sexed easily as the ovipositor is obvious on the underside of segment nine of the abdomen (pictured below). This is a typical feature of species which oviposit their eggs into plant material (endophytic).
