RXwildlife Sightings

About 11 a.m. today, our Sunday morning walk along the Cadborough cycle track was enlivened by a Red Kite flying NE following the cliffline towards Rye. Two Buzzards, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel completed the raptor list.

… one was seen this afternoon, flying down the Brede Valley towards Rye .

I took a telescope down this morning to see if I could count the ducks more easily. I couldn’t, and there are fewer, but still hundreds, plus a pair of Canada Geese and a single Little Grebe.

The scope did come in useful, however, when a Water Pipit landed briefly, allowing me a rare view of its bright supercilium and rather plain back.

A m Marsh Harrier was quartering the reeds again, a flock of 16 Lesser Redpolls twittered overhead and in the sunny treetops a karaoke Starling whistled “Green Sandpiper”.

Thanks to the exceptional rainfall, much of the upper Brede Valley is flooded, but often it seems only Black-headed Gulls are attracted to the giant puddles.
At Doleham however, where management work has provided a mosaic of open water and concealing reeds, hundreds of ducks have taken up residence.
As always, it’s difficult to get an accurate count (thanks to those same usefully concealing reeds) but on Thursday I reckoned there were 300 Teal, 100 Mallard, 80 Gadwall, 50 each of Shoveler & Wigeon and 4 Tufted Ducks.
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On 23 May there was a 3-hour guided walk through Brede High Wood with a good turn out as the picture shows.  The group started from the main car park and headed east through Coneyburrow and Pond Woods.  One of the aims of the day was to see some spring butterfly species and we recorded several but, sadly, the grizzled skipper no longer seems to be present in the woods. We also found a black-headed cardinal beetle, the rarer of our two British species, and disturbed a badger having a sleep outside its set at 11 in the morning - quite unusual.  We heard numerous willow warblers but, although we listened out, no nightingales which are said to be doing well in the woods this year.

Patrick Roper by e-mail

Common whitethroats are nesting all along the Cadborough cliff, and a number of newly fledged birds are on the wing.  Linnets and Chiffchaffs are also present in good numbers there. Walking into Gibbets marsh a Turtle dove was purring from the poplars where there is often a territory or two - but I have not seen the species further along the cliff today. Hobby falcons seen twice and adult Mediterranean gull overhead. A Cetti’s warbler nearby singing from near the Tillingham canal TQ915202 - a nesting species for Rye Town! The hoverfly Merodon equestris on the wing - a golden haired morph imitative of the carder bees. At Winchelsea a cleg fly (the horse fly Haematopota pluvialis, see here) - more widespread generally than the more local species photographed so well recently - thanks for that great picture Sam! Celery leaved buttercup in the ditch at Gibbets and Hedge woundwort now in flower at Winchelsea.
Andrew Grace by e-mail

When I followed up a report of a possible Great White Egret yesterday at Road End Pond, Udimore (in the Brede Valley) I was unable to locate any large white long-necked birds other than a couple of Mute Swans. However, both Little Grebe and Water Rail were calling, a Tufted Duck was lurking, a Barn Owl was quartering the field and a Corn Bunting trilling a bit further west.
Then, as I was turning the car round, a big raptor came sailing over the hilltop - a Red Kite.

A surprising selection of damselflies can found along the River Brede, even along  some of the faster flowing sections if a sheltered area can be found. In a small area checked at the weekend near Castle Farm six species were found. A female Banded Demoiselle (pictured) was a nice find, but finding Variable and Red-eyed Damselfly was unexpected. Azure, Common Blue and Blue-tailed were also present. Common Darters are now on the wing, several tenerals were found in long grass along the river bank.

I was coming out of Float Lane at Icklesham this afternoon at approximately 17.45, when I saw a large raptor which looked like a kite fly over head. I stopped the car and grabbed my binoculars, expecting to see a Red Kite, but spent the next 20 minutes having wonderfully close views of a Black Kite, at times being mobbed by the local crows.
John Martin from SOS website.

Six of us ran five MV moth traps at Park Wood, Brede, on Friday night (25th) to kick off moth recording as part of Butterfly Conservation’s new Rother Woods Project (www.wildrye.info/files/rotherwoods.pdf). The habitat was mainly damp birch woodland with clearings. In ideal conditions - cloudy, mild and near calm - and serenaded by a distant Nightingale, we recorded about 60 moths of 32 species. Highlights included five species of Prominents (Pebble - Steve Wheatley’s photo above, Pale, Coxcomb, Scarce and no fewer than 5 Great Prominents), Early and Purple Thorns, Early Tooth-striped, Engrailed, 4 Lunar Marbled Browns, Water Carpet, Peacock, Sallow Kitten, Waved Umber, Knot Grass, Frosted Green, 2 Brown Silver-lines and 3 V-Pugs - a great start to the season. There will be a public moth meeting for National Moth Night at Great Dixter from 8.00 pm on Saturday 7th June and from 8.00-9.00 am on 8th in what should be an extremely productive habitat - don’t miss it !