Mint moths, hawkers and a hobby
We checked all 61 dormice nesting boxes during last week’s Small Mammal Survey – no dormice nesting but we found three nests of pygmy shrew. There were plenty of abandoned tit nests in the boxes.
I spotted a marsh tit down the Tranquil Trail last week and have been seeing them there all summer so they likely nested nearby.
In the Meadow Maze I photographed the colorfully named ‘small purple and gold’ moth - it egg-lays on mint or marjoram and the adults nectar on the flowers. This moth was attracted by the large, purple water mint flowers growing in the damp ground. Its also known as the mint moth.
Sedge and reed warblers, black caps and chiff chaffs are moving through the site. These passage birds are moving in mixed flocks through the hedgerows, fattening up for their flights south. Some chiff chaffs and black caps will winter here but most move on.
Sand martins, house martins and swallows are moving through. Last Sunday visitors were surprised when a hobby sliced through a group of sand martins perching on sticks at the Sand Martin hide, to grab one for his dinner!
Another visitor photographed a brown phase cuckoo onsite last week, likely a juvenile still hanging about after hatching out at Arundel.
The ‘hawkers’ are still challenging visitors on the boat trips and on the reedbed walks. These large dragonflies patrol their territories and aren’t afraid of people. Brown hawkers, southern hawkers and migrant hawkers are on the wing along with the much smaller red common darters. Small red-eyed dragonflies are plentiful too, especially on the patches of holly leaf nyad in the channels of the boat safari.
Low number of wildfowl onsite – I counted seven teal and five gadwall on Monday. We are between duck ‘seasons’ with the breeding species having moved on and the winter residents not yet arrived. The ducks onsite are mostly in summer moult and hiding.
