The first Black-headed Gull chicks were seen flying around Ternery Pool this evening, while at the same time some adults were still nest building and mating. Most chicks are now quite large, but not quite able to fly - like the one in the photo.
Sunday 31st May. I,ve been going to other places alot lately, I decided to stay on my local patch for a change, and it paid off in some ways,firstly the drake Garganey was still on the Wader Pool, showing well in company with 3 Teal. Other sightings of note at the pools was an unexpected one, in the form of a red head Goldeneye. After about hour or so I headed off to Carters Flood again, this place is very peaceful, sometimes you have to wait awhile for the birds to show, but as long as you have time and the patience something will show itself in the end. And today was no different with very good views of Hobbys,Sparrow Hawk and 2,Marsh Harriers haunting, with a Barn Owl thrown in for go measure. Good bird watching Pete.
I expected to see a lot of Painted Lady on today’s weekly butterfly/dragonfly count when in fact I saw only two! The commonest species was Small Heath with a total of six individuals, followed by Speckled Wood (three), and overall it was a poor showing on the butterfly front, with only sixteen individuals in total. Dragonflies and damselflies, however, were a different matter, with a couple of hundred counted, mainly Blue-tailed Damselfly. The most abundant dragonfly today was Four-spotted Chaser with six counted, followed by Black-tailed Skimmer (five) and two or three Hairy Hawker (below), while a visit to the viewpoint afterwards added Downy Emerald to the days list.
Hairy Hawker (male)
Over the last week I’ve seen on three occasions a pair of shelduck on the River Rother next to Military Road in Rye, with seven young. This morning when I looked I was astonished to see two adult shelducks, presumably the same pair, with (and I counted them three times to be absolutely sure) 21 tiny ducklings! There were no other adults around, and the ducklings were unquestionably swimming with that one pair of adults. All the ducklings appeared to be the same size. Is this a record, where have the additional 14 ducklings come from - and what’s going on?!
Jane Oliphant by e-mail
(The BTO Shelduck says 8-10 eggs, so it might be 2 families joining forces???)
Yesterday on a completely pointless exercise in trying to investigate the Walland Marsh area, hardly any of the footpaths shown on the ordance survey map were marked, passable or encouraged to use, the only good thing from the experience was finding at least 500 Painted Lady grouped together, the attached picture shows only a small fraction.
The Royal Military Canal east of Appledore has a very different feel, compared to the section I’m used to at Pett Level. Trees on the southern side of the Parapet obscure views of the marsh beyond, while others on the landward side of the Back Ditch often give the impression of a narrow corridor. However they shelter a wide variety of birds of which we saw 39 species along the RMC Path between Appledore Bridge and Higham Farm.
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On Saturday as part of the RX Wildlife festival a pond dipping event was held at Castle water, sadly only two participants turned up, still, one of the highlights was finding a Hairy Hawker larva. This species is a typical example of a clasper, which is a term used to define one of the four foraging methods used by dragonfly larvae. The larva shown in the picture tried to adopt the clasping position at every oppotunity, in this instance grabbing my finger. When replaced back in the water the larva quickly clasped a dark typha stem where it was instanly camouflaged ready to grab any passing prey.
One of the highlights over recent weeks has been the presence of Corn Buntings in the nearby field at Lime Kiln Cottage. Many visitors have been delighted to get such good views of this declining farmland bird, sadly the wintering flocks that frequented Harbour Farm in recent years have also declined, but it is possible that other feeding areas are being used locally.
Corn Bunting near Lime Kiln Cottage this morning