The shrill alarm calls of House Martins above our rooftops usually precede the rapid transit of a Sparrowhawk or Hobby, but this time it was a Peregrine stooping on a Buzzard. A short while later, a flock of 8 Crossbills sped over the gardens.
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This flower is now looking its best…. despite its name this is a native of Sicily, but has become established at Rottingdean… and recently at Rye Harbour, just seaward of the red roofed hut near the river mouth.
Over the past few months one of the the pools on Harbour has been checked regulary for dragonfly exuvia, its a good way to find out what populations and species are emerging from a site. Since mid june Over 1600 Common Darter have emerged and continue to emerge from the pool. Migrant Hawker are now emerging from the same pool in good numbers with 160 exuvia collected so far. So it is not suprising that the two species are choosing the same emergence support.
Migrant Hawker and Common Darter exivia
The area of grassland near the viewpoint at Castle Water is once again a good place to look for Marbled White butterflies, over the past few days at least two have been present. Untill last year only single butterflies had been recorded on the reserve and only three times.
A good selection of waders at Castle Water early this morning, Wood, Green and Common Sandpipers were present on the islands and margins on the main pit. On the new excavations, 27 Curlew, 10 Black-tailed Godwit, 200 Lapwing, 18 Redshank, Greenshank and a Little Ringed Plover. Also, Marsh Harrier gave fantastic views from the hide, Hobby and Bearded Tit showed welll at the viewpoint.
With the return of good weather the moth catch at Lime Kiln Cottage is ticking over nicely. The commonest catchees at the moment are Smoky Wainscot, Dark Arches and Dusky Sallow, while a steady stream of ‘rares’ in the last few days has included Pigmy Footman, Crescent Striped, Kent Black Arches, Vipers Bugloss Moth and Marbled Yellow Pearl (below), a scarce resident in south-east England which also occasionally turns up as a migrant.
