RXwildlife Sightings

Pett Pools and the Sea Wall

Pete Rouse — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 22:23:34 +0000

The morning started at 7.30 am, the tide was going down, and the sea was very calm, it was grey and cloudy, which made the light conditions on the sea very good. There is still good numbers of G.C.Grebes but not as many as last weekends,but there was still something to watch on the sea, with the first thing of note being a Razorbill and a adult part summer plumage Med.Gull on the sea. Through the course of the morning there was Gannets plunging into the water,and a few parties of Brent Geese moving east, with the largest flock being of 50. Also small movements of Wigeon, Teal,and 3 Pintail, even a flock of Gadwall on the sea, which is a first for me. About 15 R.T.Divers and 1 B.T.Diver also in the bay. The marsh and the pools are still alive with waders, ducks and geese,with 18 W.F.Geese split into two flocks of six and twelve,there were no Brents at all on the marsh, but the Greylags and Canada Geese were about the same as last weeks. Wigeon,Teal, Gadwall were much the same as last week, but there was 120 Shoveler which was a much better number. The diving ducks had no change in numbers, the only difference being additional pair of Ruddy Ducks. Waders - Curlew 200, Lapwing 600/800, Golden Plover 3, Grey Plover? Oystercatcher 400, Dunlin 150/200, Knot 1 east. There was 2 Marsh Harriers one cream head ( with quite a bit of damage to its right wing tip), with the second being a sub adult male. All morning there was very large numbers of Common Gulls moving east over the sea and marsh, and roosting on the beach and the sea, its hard to put number on them,. Good birdwatching Pete.

Infrequent visitors

Brian Banks — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:04:35 +0000

We had two infrequent avian visitors to our Northiam garden this week. The first was a reed bunting. Feeding under the seed feeders, flicking its white edged tail, and hopping about nervously. For some reason a female house sparrow took great offence to it and kept trying to drive it off. Graphs on the BTO Garden Birdwatch website show that this time of year is the period when these birds are most likely to turn up in gardens, presumably as food is in short supply in the countryside. The second bird was an early morning arrival, a grey heron. These birds are particularly shy and tend to be seen first thing in the morning.

Perhaps, like me, it was anticipating the arrival of common frogs in our pond. Herons can be observed hunting frog spawning sites in the spring. If you watch them closely they move through the pond slowly, prospecting with their feet to try to disturb any amphibians hiding in the aquatic vegetation before spearing them with that sharp beak. Well if that was the intention they will have been disappointed. A weather report suggesting a spell of milder weather this weekend failed to produce the goods. I had a single frog in the pond over the weekend, and it really needs to get a good bit warmer before we have any significant spawning behaviour. Newts also remain in low numbers in the pond. My maximum count so far this year is just 7 smooth newts and two palmates (a male displaying to a female), observed at night by torchlight. These presumeably were animals living close to the pond. It will take a spell of milder wet weather to trigger the migration of newts living further away.

Rye Harbour Sightings

Chris Bentley — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 10:32:16 +0000

The Spotted Redshank and Slavonian Grebe were still showing well from the Parkes Hide this morning, as did a hunting female Marsh Harrier which passed in front of the hide about 8am. Elsewhere, at least four Goldeneye were on Harbour Farm, while 43 Knot and 33 Grey Plover were on the shore and about 30 Gannet and a Red-throated Diver were offshore. On Long Pit 4 Scaup, 3 Ruddy Duck and a Bittern.

Spotted Redshank from Parkes Hide this morning

3 Insects

Barry Yates — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 07:43:06 +0000

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…

Parkes Hide

Sam Smith — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 13:12:08 +0000

The Spotted Redshank that has frequented Ternery pool over the past few weeks and a Slavonian Grebe gave fantastic views from Parkes Hide this morning.

Castle Water

Sam Smith — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 08:31:28 +0000

Highlights from Castle Water over the past few days have included at least 6 Bittern, 9 Smew (3 drake), 4 Goldeneye (2 drake), 18 Pintail, 15 Bearded Tit, 3 Marsh Harrier and 41 Ruff roosting amongst 300 Lapwings.

Bittern infront of the hide Castle Water

Recent sightings at Newenden

Alan Martin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:23:51 +0000

Late afternoon today there were 9 Ruff amongst the 526 Lapwing on the flooded fields by the station at Newenden - the first record for TQ82I. Other birds present included 3 Golden Plover, 97 Shoveler, 11 Wigeon and 37 Gadwall. These fields turn up some nice birds, and the resident Whooper Swan is still regularly being seen on the fields on the station side of the road.

RSPB Dungeness sightings

Christine Hawkins — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:18:36 +0000

Today’s highlights were provided by four smew, 15 goosanders at the eastern end of the ARC pit, two Slavonian grebes, two black-necked grebes, three bitterns (one at the ARC site, one on New Excavations and one at Hooker’s pits) and two peregrines.

Beach Reserve

Sam Smith — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:02:35 +0000

A fine selection of waders on Flat Beach Flood today 35 Grey Plover, 36 Ringed Plover, 48 Knot, 50 Dunlin, 70 Golden Plover, 600 Lapwing, 39 Ruff, 28 Redshank, 15 Snipe and 16 Turnstone. Roosting waders along Shore Ridges at high water included 500 Oystercatcher and 60 Sanderling.

Oystercatchers on Shore Ridges

Good camouflage

Gordon Jarvis — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 08:18:05 +0000

There are always some small creatures to be seen, even in winter, and yesterday, whilst on my knees looking at fungi in Cock Wood, Peasmarsh, I spotted this spider on the leaf litter. I was immediately struck by the colouring and how well it merged into the colouring of the dead leaves. Chris Bentley identified it as Agroeca (Liocranidae), probably A. brunnea.