RXwildlife Sightings

Highlights today have included Willow Warbler and Sedge Warbler in song at the viewpoint, several Swallows also passed overhead there. On the Beach Reserve a Black Redstart was present at the River Mouth, 128 Mediterranean Gull and 180 Sandwich Tern were at Ternery pool. The Quarry attracted  23 Knot, 4 Avocet and 2 Grey Plover. Over the past few days the Wheatears that have occupied one of the nest pipes have started to add nest material, although taken at some distance the picture below shows the male struggling at the entrance with a piece of string.

Yesterday four of these furry flies were feeding on flowers in my front garden in Rye Harbour Village, they are often the first signs of spring when they appear during the first warm days in March. They can be found hovering around the flowers extracting the nectar through a long proboscis. The larvae of  Dotted Bee-flies are parasites of solitary bees, during the 60’s and 70’s the population crashed due to the decline of slolitary bees caused by the widespread intensification of agriculture. The Dotted Bee-fly is classified as nationally scarce in Great Britain.

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