Recent Sightings
March 2009
Despite spells of often bitterly cold weather during March, things began to feel much more spring-like during the month, both in terms of the weather and the wildlife! Summer visitors included the first Wheatear (below) on the 12th (with 12 on the 31st), Swallow on the 27th and Sand Martin on the 28th, while on Harbour Farm Little Ringed Plover and up to 11 Avocet were present. On the main seabird colony at Ternery Pool 1000 Black-headed Gull, 250 Sandwich Tern and around 170 Mediterranean Gull were present late-month with concomitant levels of noise and smell!
As might be expected at this time of year birds included a mixed bag of winter visitors and spring migrants. This month saw the last of the Bittern, with three on the 18th, a couple of Goldeneye on the 8th and small numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing, while numbers of waterfowl were still relatively high up to mid-month, with a count on the 15th finding 185 Tufted Duck, 88 Shoveler, 45 Wigeon and 44 Teal. At the other extreme spring migrants included up to three Garganey on Harbour Farm on the 4th, a maximum of three Black-tailed Godwit on the Quarry on the 19th, and small numbers of Green Sandpiper on the 27th and 28th. In addition, a Grey Wagtail was present at Castle Water on the 27th, single Black Redstart on the shore (14th) and Camber Castle (18th) and a Firecrest at Castle Water on the 5th, while up to six singing Chiffchaff were heard on the 19th. The highlight however, and something of a surprise, was a Penduline Tit seen briefly from the
Viewpoint on the morning of 17th, only the fourth record for this rare vagrant at Rye Harbour and the first during the spring. Of the ‘resident’ species, there were regular sightings of Bearded Tit at Castle Water, with five on the 14th, and the Little Egret roost peaked at 43 on the 24th, while up to two Raven were present over the Beach Reserve mid-month. Raptors this month included up to three Marsh Harrier, the occasional Peregrine, regular Merlin and, an increasingly common sight these days, Buzzard on the 21st and 30th, while owls included frequent Barn Owl and a Short-eared Owl from the viewpoint on the 24th.
Warm(ish) weather from mid-month saw a real increase in the numbers of invertebrate records on the reserve. Moths in the Lime Kiln trap included Common Quaker, Hebrew Character and Clouded Drab, while there were also a couple of records of Herald and a very early (by about two months!) Small Fan-foot (above). Butterflies included Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral, Peacock and Small White, and this month also saw the first records of both Dotted Bee-fly and Common Bee-fly. There were even a couple of records of Common Lizard and Slow Worm! Plants in flower during March included Common Field Speedwell, Coltsfoot, Wavy Bittercress and Goat Willow.