While walking around Lade Pits on Tuesday I noticed patches of blackthorn blossom that were proving to be attractive to insects, including the dotted bee-fly Bombylius discolor and numerous queens of the buff tailed bumblebee Bombus terrestris.
These bushes form some of the most Read the rest of this entry »
OUR COUNTRYSIDE AND WILDLIFE
DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION 2009
Organised jointly by the Rye and District Camera Club and Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, this competition is all about showing off our local countryside and wildlife of Rye and the surrounding countryside from Hastings to Hythe.
A sedge warbler was heard at Hooker’s pits this morning and Cetti’s warblers and bearded tits were very active. Three little ringed plovers were seen at the ARC site.
While, for many people, April 1st means nothing more than fraudulent items on the Today programme, there are some of us for whom it heralds a new dawn of Atlassing: the floodgates are open for Early Breeding Visits though I will refrain from TTVs until a few more migrants have turned up and in the meantime there is BBS to get on with.
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Linnets and Greenfinches, which find secure nest-sites in the dense gorse along the old cliff line, get an additional benefit this year from the planting of a strip of bird-food in the marsh fields alongside it. Woodpigeons, Yellowhammers and Reed Buntings also appreciate the new food-source, though the Tree Sparrows it was also intended to encourage seem sadly absent. 2 Sparrowhawks and a Kestrel completed the food chain. Linnets were very numerous - up to 90 - but, given that local breeders return in mid-March, some of these are probably migrants on their way northwards from wintering grounds in Spain or even Morocco. Read the rest of this entry »