RXwildlife Sightings

A Great White Egret flew over the Beach Reserve at about 15:45 this afternoon. It was observed heading west for a while before dropping down in the region of Narrow Pit.

Highlights at Rye Harbour over the last few days have included, on the Beach Reserve, Spotted Redshank and Merlin, and on Harbour Farm at least five Goldeneye (including one or two males) and three Bearded Tit in front of Watch Cottages. At Castle Water, highlights were six Black-tailed Godwit, five Ruff, three Marsh Harrier, three Red-crested Pochard (two males), at least two Bittern and a Barn Owl.

Red-crested Pochard

Highlights over the last couple of days have included, at Castle Water, two Bittern, two Marsh Harrier, six Black-tailed Godwit, five Ruff and a pair of Pintail, while best of the bunch today were at least two Merlin on Harbour Farm, the Spotted Redshank on Ternery Pool and a Bar-tailed Godwit on Flat Beach Level.

Merlin

A Short-eared Owl was seen by Roy Gardner hunting on Harbour Farm to the west of the barns mid-afternoon, while what was undoubtedly a second bird was seen coming in off the sea a little later, before being mobbed by crows and going to ground near Ternery Pool.

Highlights over the last week have included a Short-eared Owl and two Goldeneye on Harbour Farm, a male Scaup on Long Pit/Ternery Pool, and a pair of Pintail and a male Marsh Harrier at Castle Water. Offshore, a brief seawatch on 23rd found 20+ Razorbill, 10+ Kittiwake, three Red-throated Diver and a Gannet. On the Beach Reserve, around 1000 Golden Plover, 750 Lapwing and up to nine Little Egret were present on Flat Beach level, while a maximum of 33 Sanderling were present on the shore.

While counting butterflies at Castle Water at the end of June this year, I came across several of these strange looking parasitic flies. I sent a couple to Chris Raper, the national recorder, and he has identified them as Erynnia ocypterata, a very rare parasitioid of micro lepidoptera found in woodland or wetland. This is a Red Data Book 2 species in Britain, with very few sites. Another good one for Rye Harbour!

Erynnia ocypterata. Malcolm Storey www.bioimages.org.uk

Despite the warm weather it has been pretty quiet in the Lime Kiln moth trap of late, so it was a nice surprise when I came across a Dewick’s Plusia (Macdunnoughia confusa) while emptying the trap this morning. This species is a relatively uncommon vagrant from the continent, with only a few records a year annually. The last time I saw it here was in 2008 (when there were two) and overall this is only the fifth reserve record. Nice moth.

Dewick’s Plusia - this particular individual was trapped at Lime Kiln Cottage in 2006.

Still good numbers of waders on Flat Beach at the moment, a count this morning finding 248 Oystercatcher, 223 Dunlin, 93 Ringed Plover, six Knot, three each of Sanderling and Curlew Sandpiper and singles of Ruff, Grey Plover and Little Stint. In addition, at least 67 Golden Plover were roosting on the new saltmarsh next to Lime Kiln Cottage late morning, while at least four Little Egret were feeding in the channels (there have been up to nine in the main channel in recent days).

A good range of species on Flat Beach flood today included at least two Little Stint, five Ruff (later moving on to Harbour Farm), 250+ Golden Plover, 10 Yellow Wagtail and smaller numbers of Dunlin, Bar-tailed Godwit, Ringed Plover and Wheatear. Elsewhere, at least 26 Knot and three Sanderling were present on the shore late morning, while at least six Little Egret and two Common Sandpiper were present on Harbour Farm.

A good selection of moths have turned up in the Lime Kiln Moth trap in the last weeks or so. This has included the first of the years Pigmy Footman, Rosy-streaked Knot-horn and Starry Pearl, and as might be expected with all the caterpillars we saw earlier on in the year, there has been a good show of Pale Grass Eggar, with up to 10 in the trap. In addition, the closely related Oak Eggar has also put in an appearance, with a fine male this morning.

Oak Eggar male
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