RXwildlife Sightings

A single swallow was seen over the ARC pit this morning. A Slavonian grebe and, unusually, an Egyptian goose were on the pit on Tuesday.

Water Voles are hard to see on the reserve but finding latrines which are used as territory markers can be easier to find. As the breeding season is now under way increased activity is becoming more obvious. Rafts used to monitor the presence of American Mink, a predator of Water Voles, have also become a handy way to see Water Vole activity. Two rafts which are monitored at Castle Water, in areas were Common Reed is the main feature along the margins, have started to show continued Water Vole activity. The picture below shows a well used latrine adorned with fresh droppings situated on the corner of a raft, obviously the picture hasn’t the aaah factor of a Water Vole but encouraging signs all the same.

ANNOUNCE A VERY SPECIAL EVENT

An evening with Internationally renowned Landscape Photographer JOE CORNISH

“CRAFT, ART & SOUL” THE THREE PILLARS OF PHOTOGRAPHY

At RYE COLLEGE the grove, Rye Saturday 17^th October 2009 at 7.30 p.m.

Tickets are £6.00 and are available from Martello Bookshop, 26 High Street, Rye Tel. 01797 222242

Or, by post from John Trowell, Lorrimer, Main Road, Icklesham, Winchelsea, East Sussex TN36 4BS.  Please enclose a stamped addressed envelope and make cheques payable to  “Rye & District Camera Club”

Survivors of the Victorian arboretum become fewer with every year, every gale, that passes. One recent casualty, I was sad to see, is this Narrow-leafed Ash (Fraxinus angustifolia) grafted onto the smaller stem of a Common Ash. Until I stumbled upon this tree back in 1990, I had never heard of the species, which is introduced from S & E Europe. The next time I saw the species was in Nunhead Cemetery, SE London, and then not until last year when I caught up with it on its home ground in the Letea Forest, Romania. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday I found a Small Fan-foot in my garden in Rye Harbour Village, according to the books the flight season is from early June to late August. This species overwinters as a pupa in a cocoon hidden in plant debris or a bark crevice, interestingly for a common well distrubuted moth there have only been two records from the reserve June 1989 and July 1999. The Small Fan-foot is distinguished from the similar Fan-foot by its small size and the curved cross-line which extends to the wing tip.

Although Chiffchaffs have been widespread for the last week or so, few other migrants are present on the scene. Particularly intriguing (year after year) is the early absence of Wheatears and Sandwich Terns, both of which are present in numbers just down the road at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve.
On a circular walk, it’s still hard work to find 70 species but during the last week there have been some interesting ones including Avocet, Buzzard, Marsh Harrier, Merlin, Med Gull, Barn Owl, Kingfisher, Water Pipit and Great Grey Shrike.

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Highlights this morning included 43 Little Egret, Short-eared Owl, Barn Owl, Marsh Harrier and Bearded Tit from the viewpoint, and on the Beach Reserve what has become a feature of the early mornings recently a Merlin (second picture below through bins) along Shore Ridges. Later at Castle Water around mid morning the Barn Owl was still hunting and gave great views perched on fence posts along the footpath at the northern end of the main pit.

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Friday 20th: A raven was seen at the ARC site. Bittern, merlin, avocet and Mediterranean gull were also of note.

Saturday 21st: Black-necked grebe, Slavonian grebe, four avocets, three ruff (all at the ARC site), bittern (Christmas Dell), Iceland gull in the roost alongside the access track.

Sunday 22nd: Ruff, avocet, Mediterranean gull, short-eared owl and rock pipit.

A large arrival of Sandwich Terns today with at least 220 roosting at Ternery Pool around lunch time, 170 Meditteranean Gull and 800 Black-headed Gull were also present. Other highlights today included a Merlin along Shore Ridges, 20 Dunlin, 16 Knot and 3 Grey Plover on the Quarry and 12 Snipe on Wader pool.

Black-headed Gull at Crittall Hide