RXwildlife Sightings

Very tame and inquisitive Razorbill swam up to within 4 metres of my surf board 200 metres off Galley Hill Common today (07/01/12).

Lone Firecrest spotted in undergrowth on Galley Hill on 20/11/11.

Large flocks of Swallows (approx 30), Goldfinches (50-100), Pied Wagtail (about 50) and Starlings (50-100) gathered on Galley Hill Common over w/e of 5th/6th November. About 40 Brent Geese flew in an easterly direction just off-shore.

27/08/11 am: Little Egret flying east along shore. Fulmar on cliffs. Flock of 190-200 Oystercatchers on beach at Fairlight Cove.

28/07/11: Rhizostoma Pulmo Jellyfish 300m offshore from Galley Hill. Numerous Sandwich Tern and Common Tern, with 13 Turnstones on shore. Wheatear at Glyne Gap in evening.

Also seen recently Red Admiral butterfly on Galley Common, 2 Common Seals off Galley Hill. Numerous House Sparrows and Chiffchaffs across Galley Hill and Galley Common

I have been recording numbers of bumblebees on timed walks at Hastings Country Park this summer, comparing numbers to Dungeness.  Not surprisingly, given the different habitat, the responses of bumblebees to the spring drought have been totally different.  For instance whilst at Dungeness the red tailed bumblebee Bombus lapidarius has been unusually scarce this summer at Hastings it has been abundant.  Back in May both species were equally common on timed walks in pasture managed for bumblebees, however by this month there were three times as many females of this species at Hastings.  Males (sporting an additional yellow band at the front of the thorax) can be seen at both sites now.

Numbers of the widespread bumblebee species have benefitted from some excellent Read the rest of this entry »

The Hastings Trust are holding an environmental event on Saturday 18th June, 10am - 4pm at The Old Coachworks, Upper Broomgrove Road, Ore Valley, TN34 3PH.

• Music, activities, stalls, energy advice and demonstrations of all things ‘green’
• Local schools show their vision for the pier of the future, all made from recycled materials
• Take part in a straw bale build, den building, junk modelling, or just watch everyone else!

FREE entry - come along and enjoy a great day out for all.

10am - 4pm at the Hastings Adventure Playground, Ore Valley.

See http://www.hastingstrust.com/EcoFabulous.html for more info.

A beautiful morning, with lots of birdsong including Blackcap. Many common birds but more unusual were Kingfisher, 2 Firecrests, Med Gull and Little Egret.
Read more on RXbirdwalks.

Of all my tetrads covered for the Bird Atlas, the most sparrow-rich has been TQ81Q at Fairlight Cove, which resembles Pat’s area at Camber in that it is a seaside bungalow development though on a cliff-top rather than sand. The gardens there are pretty manicured but many householders put out feeders and there is access to rough grass on the cliff-edge. On my early winter visit I found 76 birds, which had the website sending a flashing red warning that the count was unusually high.

Another good flock is to be found around the entrance to Toot Rock, Pett Level where they exploit a chicken run and up to 60 birds are present in late summer. Around our house at Chick Hill I see breeding adults foraging, as Brian notes, for insects in pasture well-manured by cattle. I share his views on their conservatism in visiting new feeding sites even at a very short distance from an existing one.

House Sparrows are not that easy to count; not only do they squabble inside dense shrubs as Pat notes, but also chirrup invisibly from eaves and gutters. Around Alexandra Park, Hastings, you can hear them calling from nearby streets but they don’t seem to cross to the park itself. In the Weald they are often either absent from human habitation or hanging on in isolated pairs and seem most to favour untidy farms with livestock. In N Spain, though, I’ve noticed they occupy any building, even vacant second homes way out in the woods, with not a chicken in sight.

Following Brian’s posting, I’ve seen more House Sparrows in Camber than anywhere else around here. I first noticed how common they were while atlassing two winters ago, but on 7 Dec. this year I did my first “timed tetrad visit” (TTV) there and clocked up 95 in the two hours. That’s only the ones I counted (or guesstimated, in the case of several dense noisy groups in roadside bushes). In no way was that a full census of the village - the numbers there must run into the hundreds. They’re also resident at Moneypenny and even much further out on the levels at remote spots like Barn Farm. No wonder Tree Sparrows have had such a hard time competing. In contrast, I found just 10 sparrows in a more recent TTV around Ore and Clive Vale in urban Hastings.