Yesterday we were very lucky with the weather and the events in Rye were successful. The wildlife parade through the streets (organised by Radiator Arts) was very colourful and the drums very noisy. This was followed on the Strand Quay by several environmental performances. At the Quay there was a good variety of stalls, providing local information, activities and food.
If you go down to the Parkes Hide at Ternery Pool and open the flaps, there in front of you will be an island with over a hundred Black-headed Gulls nests. The nests range from adults still incubating to nests with half grown chicks, but most have chicks that are just a few days old - as in the photo above.
Ternery Pool is now home to more than a thousand pair of seabirds, including 4 species of gull and 2 of terns. This no accident, many years of management has created the ideal islands for successful nesting. The first photo shows a Sussex Ornithological Society workparty in April 1979 building up one of the islands to a level where it is present in spring. First, the edge of the island was built up with pieces of concrete and then it was infilled with shingle.
Similar conditions to those of yesterday today resulted in a small but varied arrival of migrants. The highlight was a singing Golden Oriole at the Long Pits for a time during the morning but other significant records included a male Hen Harrier, a Hobby, a Ruff, a Common Sandpiper, 81 Swallows and 16 House Martins, seven Tree Pipits, a Redstart, three Garden Warblers, three Willow Warblers and seven Spotted Flycatchers. A Grey Partridge and 17 Corn Bunting were also seen.
David Walker from DBO website
Today’s dull lighting was good for photographing the first Sea Pea flowers to appear this year. The yesterday’s rain should be good for the shingle plants after a long period of drought. A good area to see them is on the seaward side of the road 100m west of Ternery Pool, but please be careful - they do not like trampling!
and the Sea Kale is looking great…
It is just one week until the start of the RX WILDLIFE AND CULTURE FESTIVAL 2008. So plan your visit around the many events on offer in the countryside from Hastings to Dungeness.. click here for more info.
A group of year 8 students from Thomas Peacocke Community College visited the nature reserve today and found this enormous group of squid eggs on the shore. The eggs would normally be “glued” to weed or rocks, so this stranded mass has little chance of hatching.
Several people reported a Red Kite in the Winchelsea Beach area this morning.
… is just one of the 70+ common names for Lotus corniculatus, a very common flower of the RX area that is now in flower and should continue into September. It is an important foodplant for many insects, including the Common Blue butterfly.
The coming week will be the best for seeing Sea Kale in bloom, with the enormous domes of white flowers dominating the shingle shoreline. So if you want to see or smell (of honey) this spectacle you know what to do… this photo was taken this morning (for photos of white flowers bright sun is useless, choose overcast or hazy sun and try to pick a calm day our weather station on the website will help).
Welcome to RXwildlife Sightings - the weblog with the latest wildlife sightings for the Hastings, Rye Bay, Dungeness and Romney Marsh area.
RXwildlife Sightings is a sister site of the RXwildlife Projects website, which contains information about the nature conservation projects currently taking place within the RXwildlife area.
The views and opinions expressed on this website are those of the individual authors and do not represent the views or opinions of any other organisation, society, group or individual represented on the website.
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