RXwildlife Sightings

Steve Ray visited Rye Harbour today to see young terns and was not disappointed with his three photos. They will soon have fledged and be starting their journey to Africa…
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The white-tailed plover is still on site and seen most frequently around the ARC pits.  At the same location, two wood sandpipers have been seen today.  The great white egret is also still on the Denge Marsh and the purple heron chicks were seen for the first time over the weekend.  It is not possible to say how many are present but it appeared to be at least two individuals.  We are expecting the oldest chicks to fledge shortly.

This male Sussex Emerald was in my moth trap yesteday morning, but as it is quite rare I held off mentioning it until I could have the id confirmed by an expert (my thanks to Colin Pratt the Sussex county recorder for moths) First found in Britain at Beachy Head in Sussex in 1902 (hence the name), these days it is confined as a breeding species to Dungeness (though apparently it occasionally turns up as a migrant), the larvae feeding on Wild Carrot, Yarrow and other low-growing plants. It is very similar to Common Emerald, but can be told from this species by the presence of two lobes on the hind-wing (just visble at the extreme left of the left hand wing in the picture below) rather than just one.

Sussex Emerald