In my Rye Harbour garden last evening there was a Pipistrelle Bat flying around the tree tops, then as I watched it a Sparrowhawk appeared and chased it in a loop, but the bat escaped. Then this morning a Black Redstart was in front of the kitchen window. Still flowering in the garden is some Wall Germander (a captive population from Camber Castle!).
On Saturday afternoon a large Grey Seal was hauled out for about an hour on the shore at Rye Harbour, despite a small crowd of onlookers and dogs. It looked unwell and was a potential risk to the onlookers, so I called Mallydams RSPCA. Then, almost immediately the seal turned and loped off into the receding tide… and I was able to cancel the RSPCA call out! Photo by Mike Slavin.
On grassy shingle banks at this time of year there are frequent piles of small stones mounded outside of small holes. The photo shows a new one in my garden with a pile, about 40cm across, of small stones (there is a 50p coin in the photo and the entrance is top centre). I have often wondered what made these and a Trail Camera has provided the answer. It is a pair of Long-tailed Field Mice but I find it hard to imagine them moving these 1,000+ stones one by one from under the ground to outside their front door. The video shows them in front of the entrance and one is taking in nest material, so it looks like the main construction phase is over and they are now fitting it out with nest material. Read the rest of this entry »
This small Harbour Porpoise was found on the shore at Winchelsea Beach last evening. It was freshly dead and measured about 1 metre, a lot less than the adult size of 1.8m. Read the rest of this entry »
I realised a Water Vole was coming to the pond in my wildlife garden at Dungeness, but capturing it on camera proved impossible, so we bought a Bushnell camera trap, and straight away got these images. The Vole has several holes around the pond, I think the pond attracted him because of the vegetation around it and I have a open compost heap with lots of vegetable peelings right next to the pond, although it can attract undesirables such as a Brown Rat a few years ago. I don’t know if many people have any records of Water Voles in their garden.
From Dave Bunney by e-mail.
Near Rye Harbour Village today I saw a cat playing with a “mouse”, which appeared to be black. On closer inspection it was a Water Shrew with black upperparts and white below. I have only seen half a dozen Water Shrews alive, but sadly this one had been severely mauled and was not going to live much longer… I wonder how much wildlife that one cat kills in a year? Does it represent the same as a Barn Owl? And how many cats are there in the village? Read this link for more info.
2011 is the year of our Water Vole habitat management trial along one of the ditches just west of New Gate, Winchelsea. After completing vegetation management in February, creating a wiggly channel of open water with scalloped “bays”, the electric fence went live on 10th March. This will protect the bank from trampling and poaching by livestock and leave the voles a wider strip of grass to feed on. Their activity will be monitored from next month. Read the rest of this entry »
I found this recently dead Common Shrew this morning beside a footpath and put it in a life-like pose… in life they are too quick to photograph. Shrews are often found like this and it is a good means of identifying our 3 species - Common, Pigmy and Water (please let us know if you find a Water Shrew). Click here for more information.
Just off the beach at St Leonards this morning a Grey Seal lolloping happily about in the water. Following Pete’s notes on the big numbers of Great crested Grebes I counted 160 offshore between West St Leonards and Glyne Gap this morning. In addition a Red-necked Grebe among about twenty of the Great Crested grebes not too far off the boats at Bulverhythe (although a telescope rested on a winch hut roof was needed for a proper view) watched swimming, diving and even preening and 2 Grey Plovers were joined by a Purple Sandpiper on the shingle roost.
Curious? click here for BBC report.