RXwildlife Sightings

From New Zealand to the UK; the return of the short haired bumblebee. Is the title of a talk by Dr Nikki Gammans to be given at RSPB Dungeness on 13th March @ 3-4pm. Please reserve your seat on 01797 320588 or e-mail dungeness@rspb.org.uk Find out more about the project here.

The short haired bumblebee project aims to reintroduce this extinct bumblebee to the RX area from English stock exported to New Zealand over 100 years ago.  One of the hurdles to be overcome is to get a stock of captive reared queens for importing back here.  We did not know if this would be easy to do or not, however Nikki Gammans has been over in New Zealand catching wild queens for a captive rearing project.  This is starting to produce the goods, well workers and males so far anyway.  Read about progress in Nikki’s blog.

On Friday at Winchelsea Beach, in the shelter of some scrub and during a 10 minute period of warm sunshine there was a Small Tortoiseshell, 7 Spot Ladybird and a Honeybee…

Last night I ran my moth trap in Rye for the first time this year. Well, you never know!  This morning the trap was empty but this very smart Mottled Umber – wingspan 33 mm – was on the wall nearby. This is a male – it’s one of those few unusual species whose female is wingless. It’s a common and widespread moth that flies from October through to January or February. Yesterday’s regular Sunday morning walk with Bob and Mike was enlivened by a Marsh Harrier and a Buzzard in the Tillingham valley, plus a falconer with his Harris Hawk along the Cadborough Cliff slopes. Bizarrely, we watched this exotic-looking raptor sunning itself high in a tree for several minutes before we noticed its owner sitting on the bank underneath!

A combination of bad weather and vehicles in for repair meant that I have spent most of today in the office sorting through insect specimens accumulated during 2009. One of the most striking was the picture-winged fly Campiglossa plantaginis (below). The larvae of this species feed in the heads of Sea Aster (Aster tripolium), a common plant on the saltmarsh at Rye Harbour, and there have been several records of this fly on the reserve over the years.

Campiglossa plantaginis
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It is intended to reintroduce this extinct bumblebee in 2010, using stock exported from Britain to New Zealand 120 years ago.  In doing this we face a number of hurdles, of which two are particularly significant.  Have we recreated enough suitable habitat for the species, and will we be able to capture enough queens to start the reintroduction?

Our initial target was to have at least ten 1 km squares with sufficient clover-rich grassland to support the bees. Infact last summer there were a total of 43 1 km squares that met this target, and more are being managed to bring them into suitable condition.

Having created the habitat will we be able to repopulate it? Last winter, when Nikki Gammans paid her first visit to New Zealand, she was only able to find drones and workers, neither of which are suitable for an introduction.  The good news is that already this winter she has found a total of 18 queens!  You can follow Nikki’s progress on this link.

NB – at 9 December 36 Queens had been captured.

On the 20th June 2007 I collected several parasitic flies from shingle to the west of Ternery Pool. Most of these were readily identified, but one left me stumped. I subsequently handed it on to Chris Raper, the national recorder for this group, and yesterday he came back with an answer. It is Huebneria affinis, an extremely rare fly in Britain (RDB1 – Endangered) with only two records, from Folkestone in 1866 and Deal in 1921. Larvae of this species are parasitoids of Arctiid caterpillars (‘woolly bears’ such as Garden Tiger and Cream-spot Tiger), so Rye Harbour is the ideal place for them.

Huebneria affinis

The Sprawler is an uncommon late autumn moth of broadleaved woodland – this was my first, trapped in Rye on 12th, and a different one turned up this morning. Also by the trap today was a Pine Weevil (Hylobius abietis). This afternoon at Playden Church, a Red Admiral and a male Common Darter were still on the wing despite the blustery conditions.

Highlights from the viewpoint this morning 26 Little Egret leaving the roost and a Bittern gave flight views twice. Yesterday on the Beach Reserve highlights included 6 Red-throated Diver offshore, 3 Swallow and a Wheatear at Ternery Pool, Merlin and 400 Golden Plover on Flat Beach Level, 23 Sanderling and 37 Ringed Plover roosting on Shore Ridges. Red Admiral and Painted Lady were on the wing around Parkes Hide.

Bird atlassers have been waiting ever since the end of July to get out there with their bins and OS maps and continue the good work. With the third winter of the BTO Atlas starting yesterday (and who went out then?), today I had a wander around TQ81P, a “blank” tetrad between Broad Oak and Udimore. With no records so far, everything counts!  The 30 species included great views of Coal and Marsh Tits, Nuthatches, Treecreepers, a Goldcrest and both woodpeckers, with Buzzards heard in two places, and in addition single Red Admiral, Migrant Hawker and Common Darter. November is late for the dragonflies but there are still plenty about in sheltered spots, and it will be interesting to see how long they survive in such a mild autumn.