Wildlife sightings for 23rd May 2015
2 Little Ringed Plover - wader scrape
3 Lapwing chicks - grazing marsh ( very Good views from wildside hide)
1 Kestrel - hunting over sheltered lagoon
May bird highlights: Bittern, Wood Sandpiper, Little Egret, Garganey, Hobby, Oystercatcher, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Little Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper, Redshank, Jack Snipe, Common Snipe, Common Tern, Yellow-legged Gull, Cuckoo, Kingfisher, Yellow Wagtail, Wheatear, Whinchat, Lesser Whitethroat, Common Whitethroat.
Most of the spring birds have arrived in the form of Chiffchaff, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Whitethroat, Sand Martin, Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Swift, Little Ringed Plover and Redshank, as well as other migrants stopping off or passing through like Black-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel, Mediterranean Gull, Swallow, Willow Warbler, Redstart and Wheatear. In addition to the muddy pools and ditch edges of the marsh, the wader scrape is now being flooded and drained over a weekly period to bring in a few interesting waders. Lapwings have their first chicks with several more pairs sitting on eggs on the marsh and scrape.
Reptiles: Survey results from 16th May: Slow Worm: 16 juvenile, 4 male, 8 female. Grass Snake: 2 male.
Butterflies and other insects: Green Hairstreak, Red Admiral, Brimstone, Small Tortoiseshell, Small White, Large White, Small Copper, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Comma, Holly Blue, Orange-tip, Green-veined White, 7-Spot Ladybird, Bee-Fly, Miner Bee, White-tailed Bumblebee, Buff-tailed Bumblebee, Common Carder Bee, Silver Y Moth.
Flowering plants: Primrose, Red Dead-Nettle, Colts-foot, Marsh Marigold, Lesser Celandine, Bulbous Buttercup, Cowslip, Blackthorn, Wild Cherry, Wood Anemone, Sweet Violet, Bluebell, Cuckoo Flower.
