Saturday 1 June 2013

Friday 31st. May 2013

Carol has been waiting for some reasonable weather to visit an old friend who lives on the south coast at Camber . Would I let her travel alone , or earn some more 'Brownie points' and take her . My decision to take her had nothing to do with the fact that Rye Harbour Reserve is on one side and Dungeness Reserve on the other . Having dropped her off , I headed for Rye Harbour . It would take all weekend to write up the whole story , so it's photos and comments this time .
Walking out alongside the river , a male Meadow Pipit was trying to impress a female .
But even his trapeze work in the wind didn't do the trick , she flew off .
Just before the first hide , a distant male Wheatear , sadly just one of two seen , and even sadder , no sightings of Yellow Wagtail , the two species were almost guaranteed where the path turns right along the beach .
I must say the work done to create scrapes looks great , but only this pair of Shellduck were to be seen from the first hide . The Avocets seem to have nested in the field nearest to the caravan park , well out of view , whereas they used to nest not too far from the hide .
On the road by the beach , a large caterpillar , several others found squashed on the road . Looks like the bike riders play 'flatten the caterpillar' as they cycle by . A bit of digging on the web , and I think it might be that of the Fox Moth , with the emphasis on 'might' . Well , what a surprise , wrong again . Many thanks to Spock for the correct ID , Grass Eggar .
Just a few Linnets seen before the turn to the two hides , but as I did so , this Sandwich Tern flew by calling , with a good meal for it's mate in it's bill .
Lots of noise from infront of the hide on the left , with BHGulls and Common Terns arguing over property rights , but scanning round , found three gulls dozing on the shingle , the one in the middle being a Mediterranean Gull .
 
Moving to the hide on the right , a few more Mediterranean Gulls appeared , their almost laughing call announcing them before they could be seen properly .
The Common Terns were sharing the islands with the BHGulls , but they were still sitting tight on their nests ,
whereas , the BHGulls had young of various stages , with very young birds gathered together in a crèche .
The only waders I saw were Oystercatchers and a few Redshank , like this one , that came for a quick wash and brush up .
Heading back to the car , several Skylarks were making use of the strong wind . As can be seen from these shots , it was quite cloudy to begin with , but the sky started to open up as I made my way to Dungeness , where although migrants were few and far between , I did find one rarity , but I'll write that up later .

2 comments:

Spock said...

I think the caterpilllar is Grass Eggar, first thought was Oak Eggar, but looking up in Jim Porters book, seem to be the former, common in costal areas of Kent. Fox Moth larva is fully grown in September, overwinters then spins up in March, so wouldnt be seen at this time of year.

Greenie said...

Spock ,
Thanks very much again for your ID .
I often think of not posting moths or their caterpillars for the obvious reason , but with you keeping tabs , will hopefully get things right in the end .