⛅ Friday 30th June 2017 ~ I began at the East Marsh and Teal Pool Hides, where there is now water after the recent rain and ended up with a reasonable wader count. These included (3)
Redshank and (3)
Green Sandpipers on Teal Pool and an eventual count on East Marsh Pool of single
Little Egret,
Ringed Plover, (5)
Little-ringed Plover and no less than (7)
Oystercatcher, when a few invaders flew in causing mayhem among the resident birds! There was plenty of
Kingfisher activity, with birds back and forth during my stay in the hides and of course plenty of young passerines too, with (7)
Teal on the pool also notable. While in the Teal Pool hide
Swift numbers were well into the 30's. Ted Jury Hide had the resident
Kestrel family perched around the adopted Barn Owl box, (2)
Buzzard and at least one active
Hobby.
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| One of three Green Sandpiper on Teal Pool |
A warmer day than of late meant that despite the lack of sunshine there were plenty of odonata, bugs and butterflies on the wing and so the rest of my visit was spent investigating.
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| Narrow-bordered Five Spot Burnet Moth |
I enjoyed my packed lunch on the Horsetail Glade bench and while here
Green-veined White, Red Admiral, Comma and a single
Small Tortoiseshell, the later not too common at the moment. Talking of uncommon butterflies another complete blank on
Common Blue and
Peacock throughout the reserve during my stay!
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| White-letter Hairstreak ~ Usual spot along the meadow treeline! |
The 'Old Tip' area and River Meadow next, the tip producing at least
3 Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet and several
Cinnabar moths. River Meadow was bristling with
Meadow Brown and
Ringlet butterflies and in the usual tree (4 consecutive years now) my annual look at
White-letter Hairstreak! A
Lesser Whitethroat was singing most of the time along the river line while here!
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| Essex Skipper ~ River Meadow |
A closer look at River Meadow produced (6)
Small Skipper, (2)
Large Skipper and a single
Essex Skipper and a butterfly that is doing extremely well on the reserve is the
Marbled White, with twelve recorded on the meadow and several more around other areas! Dragonfly's noted:
Emperor,
Black-tailed Skimmer and
Brown Hawker.
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| Excellent year for Marbled White across the reserve |
Finally a walk around the Farm Meadow and top reedbeds produced a young
Fox cub, presumed more around, a single
Small Heath butterfly and flyby
Hobby!
