RXwildlife Sightings

An interesting variety of birds yesterday in this small corner of the Brede Valley totalled 65 species. Spring migrants included Cuckoo, Yellow Wagtail, Whitethroat, Sedge & Reed Warbler and 4 Garganey, of which one drake had such pale wings I took it at first for a hybrid.
Other wildfowl still hanging on included Gadwall, Shoveler, Teal and Tufted Duck, while a Shelduck was a new arrival.
A hunting Barn Owl carried off prey towards Udimore and the first Little Owl for a while whooped from the railway embankment, which also had 3 Nuthatch territories along it.
2 Buzzards were the only bird of prey.

Wednesday 15th: A Slavonian grebe was seen from the Hanson-ARC hide and bar-tailed godwit, spotted redshank and common sandpiper were seen from the eastern end of the pit. Three wheatears were spotted near the water tower and a single swift flew over early in the afternoon. Cuckoo, yellow wagtail, sedge warbler, reed warbler, whitethroat and chiffchaff were all present around the main nature trail.

Thursday 16th: A bittern was seen flying from Hooker’s pits to Denge Marsh early this morning. An Egyptian goose was seen briefly, first on Denge Marsh and then on Burrowes pit. Avocet, little ringed plover, snipe, whimbrel, spotted redshank, greenshank and green sandpiper were all present in small numbers. Three garganey, two Mediterranean gulls, a cuckoo and two willow warblers were also of note.

On 6 Sep 2008, I collected a caterpillar from a hop plant - Humulus lupulus in the garden, most likely a Currant Pug - Eupithecia assimilata. When the caterpillar was fully fed, and it was time for it to make its pupa, it failed to do so. Having a good idea why this was I decided to keep the caterpillar for a while longer. Looking at the caterpillar now my suspicions are proved correct. The caterpillar contains about 50 parasitic fly larvae. The caterpillar has been almost completely consumed by the larvae, leaving little more than an outer layer of skin. The parasites look as if they are ready to emerge at any moment.

This mornings highlights came from the Quarry 16 Whimbrel, 3 Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, 12 Knot, 10 Dunlin (pictured) and 9 Avocet.