RXwildlife Sightings

Summer is flying by Read the rest of this entry »

I had a fascinating e-mail this morning from a resident at Dungeness reporting a number of stinking hawk’s-beards on their lawn.  This plant is reported to have become extinct in the UK in 1980 when the last Dungeness population died out, and has been subject to various reintroduction programmes since the early 1990’s, resulting in limited success at Dungeness, and a burgeoning population at Rye Harbour.  So it was surprising to find a new population of 2000+ plants, with their obvious white seed-heads today.

What was interesting was that Read the rest of this entry »

Apologies for the poor quality of this image, but it is the only one I have of a very lucky stinking hawk’s-beard.  Not because it’s seed fell on stony ground Read the rest of this entry »

Earlier this evening a man was spotted walking the streets of Northiam, examining gardens in a suspicious manner.  There are reports of the same individual doing this in previous summers, although links to crime have not been established. Read the rest of this entry »

The RX countryside is turning white - with several flowers dominating some areas. Thousands of Daisies in horse grazed fields at Winchelsea Beach, Hawthorn flowers in full bloom along the hedgerows, great mounds of creamy white Sea Kale flowers on the shingle near the shore, and Sallow (or Grey Willow) shedding masses of fluffy white seeds… as if it is snowing.

Read the rest of this entry »

A dark and grimm early morning along the shore was brightened by the flowering Sea Pea which is having another good year with masses growing in the splash zone along shore ridges. Avian highlights included a Peregrine, 2 Little Tern, 6 Knot and 15 Black-tailed Godwit.

Flowering Sea Pea along shore ridges this morning

Walking beneath the cliffs at Fairlight yesterday it was striking how the dominant plants are non-natives. As the gardens (and houses) tumble into the sea, some of the garden plants have established in a big way. The “big three” are Pampas Grass, Wall Flower and Hottentot Fig. They are certainly attractive flowers, but are they a good thing? I suspect they offer food and shelter to many native invertebrates, perhaps even rare species…

Pampas Grass
Read the rest of this entry »

There have been few articles on flowers recently, so I thought I would have a close look at the Oak trees in my garden where the flowers have just emerged. The male (long and yellow, hanging down like tassels) and female (tiny red, just visible top left of photo above) flowers are quite different.
Read the rest of this entry »

Another spring time orchid that grows in our area, the green winged orchid is in my experience harder to find than the early purple orchid, unless one goes to a protected grassland such as the meadows at Great Dixter, in Northiam, where they grow in large numbers.

Although superficially similar to the early purple orchid, the sepals that form the helmet of the flower bear several purple lines, and the leaves of the green winged orchid lack purple spots.  This plant is strongly associated with unimproved grasslands, whereas the early purple orchid can be found in grasslands and woodland.

The problem with spring is that as each wild flower opens it is tempting to think I’ll go looking for them later this week.  If you have a busy period you suddenly realise it is too late.  Now is the time to admire the patches of early purple orchids such as these by the side of the road heading towards Staplecross from Northiam.

With the loss of Read the rest of this entry »