RXwildlife Sightings

I recorded my first two great crested newts of the year on Walland Marsh last night.  It is the first time I have checked the site this winter so I don’t know when they arrived in the water, but friends who regularly monitor their own garden ponds, in Brighton and near Alton reported the first specimens turning up in their ponds last weekend, which in the case of the Brighton pond is the latest first arrival for this species in 20 years of regular monitoring.

 Meanwhile in Northiam I recorded my first common frog of the year last Saturday, again a relatively late first sighting

Single red-necked, Slavonian and black-necked grebes were seen on Denge Marsh on Sunday. Unfortunately the Slavonian seems to have disappeared but the other two were showing well in the sunshine today. Five Bewick’s swans, 17 white-fronted geese and eight smew were on the ARC pit this morning. There were sightings of bittern at the ARC site and Scott hide and two firecrests were in Christmas Dell. Also of note today were two pairs of ravens.

Highlights over the last few days have included up to two Marsh Harrier, three Water Rail, three Ruff, a pair of Pintail and a Merlin at Castle Water, 300 Lapwing, 60 Golden Plover and a pair of Grey Partridge on Harbour Farm, and a Bittern at Narrow Pit.

Water Rail

I have a couple of red mason bee nest tubes in my garden and they have been very successful in attracting these insects, but unfortunately the cardboard tubes need replacing every year or two.  This winter I have improvised and used stems from a Himalayan honeysuckle.  This invasive non-native species which colonised our garden from a neighbours is attractive to bumblebees (for pollen) and birds (which eat the fruit) and so has been left to grow.  The stems however were coppiced this winter, and were found to be hollow with partitions at each node.  I have cut them into sections with a node at one end, and used them to replace the worn out cardboard tubes.  The result is a mixture of different sized cavities, which should attract a wider range of bee species.