RXwildlife Sightings

Today a vivid rainbow drew me over to Camber Castle where the resident Jackdaws were “playing” in the gusty winds around the central tower and 3 Black Redstarts were sheltering from the frequent showers.

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Highlights this morning from the Beach Reserve, 10 Brambling in flight over the Red Roofed Hut, 8 Pintail and  32 Brent Geese on Flat Beach Flood. Yesterday afternoon 420 Brent Geese passed over the Beach Reserve and Harbour Farm in two huge flocks, also in the late afternoon 62 Redwing and 4 Fieldfare were present in the willows at the viewpoint at Castle Water.

The sea and shore continue to provide the avian highlights, this morning 65 Brent Geese and a Great Skua gave close views in flight over the low water sand, while 15 Pintail and 11 Shelduck were roosting along the low water mark.

The Green Heron (and a few birdwatchers) featured in last night’s local BBC news.
Click here to watch video.

Pelvetia canaliculata is a seaweed that grows on hard substrates on very sheltered to moderately exposed upper shores.  Here it is growing on old wooden groynes near the mouth of the river Rother. It’s very tolerant of drying out and can survive for up to eight days out of water. Some of this seaweed spends up to 90 per cent of the time out of water.

Very quiet over the past few days but there have been a few highlights, this morning 164 Curlew, 43 Ringed Plover, 12 Sanderling, 3 Knot and 6 Grey Plover were feeding along the shore. Yesterday 450 Golden Plover were roosting on Flat Beach and a Dartford Warbler was a nice surprise late afternoon in bramble scrub near Parkes Hide.

The highlight of the day was a first-winter Red-breasted Flycatcher which spent most of the day around the Old Lighthouse or railway station (having been reported by the pagers the previous night) and frequently giving excellent views.

Click for larger image

There was a handful of other grounded migrants including a Woodcock, 22 Blackbirds, two Dartford Warblers, two Blackcaps, four Chiffchaffs, a Firecrest and 20 Goldcrests. There was also a steady trickle of birds overhead during the morning which included a Marsh Harrier, two Rock Pipits, five Tree Sparrows, 95 Chaffinches, eight Bramblings, 30 Siskins and 65 Redpolls.

David Walker from DBO website

This unusual-looking moth, Agrotis ipsilon - a first for me - was in my trap in Rye yesterday. It’s a dart moth related to the common Turnip, Heart & Dart, etc., but larger (about an inch long) and a Continental immigrant most numerous in the autumn on mild southerly winds, such as we had over the weekend. Today’s fare was the more normal Yellow-line Quaker, November Moth, Large Wainscot and Green-brindled Crescent.

Mike Prince, Bob Greenhalf and I drove over to Hythe this morning to pay our respects to this American vagrant, the eighth in the British Isles and the first since Anglesey in 2005 (previous records came from Jersey, Guernsey, Cornwall, Lincs, Yorks and Lothian). Despite the wind and drizzle we had good views of the bird across the Royal Military Canal, standing in the open and clambering about the reeds. The poor light and rain didn’t help with the photography but I did manage to get a few passable shots (left-click on image to enlarge). The bird was first reported midday yesterday but is thought to have been present since Thursday.

The Rare Bird Alert has news of an extreme rarity in the RX area.

GREEN HERON still 8.20am 2mls west of Hythe at West Hythe on Royal Military Canal near dam (probably for 4th day). From West Hythe Royal Military Canal picnic site car park walk c.400yds to canal dam.