I started out from Reculver on a beautifully sunny morning with a light and warm south westerly breeze. Making my way along the sea wall several Meadow Pipits were singing away, as they parachuted down in their display flights, and the warm air was filled with the calls and songs of the local birds. The tide was well on its way in and nearby, off shore, 4 Great Black-backed Gulls of various ages were bobbing gently along on the sea.
 |
| Great Black-backed Gulls |
 |
| Great Black-backed Gull |
Whitethroat were singing away from the bushes beside the sea wall and a female Blackbird flew past with the most enormous bill full of mud and vegetation, presumably for nest building. A Meadow Pipit on the shore chased a very slight and well marked Rock Pipit who had come too close.
 |
| Rock Pipit |
 |
| Rock Pipit |
There were good numbers of Stonechat and the various youngsters that I saw appeared to be doing well. One of the Stonechat returned time and again to the one of the gates overlooking the oyster farm and appeared to be very adept at catching insects, even if it was completely oblivious of the sign, which left me with a smile as I carried on.
 |
| Stonechat |
Thirteen Mallard were resting up on the banks of one of the lagoons on the oyster farm and various male Reed Bunting's song danced through the air as I made my way along. Overall it remained quiet but was a beautiful day to be out. A single Sandwich Tern flew west out to sea while inland a large crane working near the railway line made a striking addition to the skyline.
 |
|
Despite the fine day it was nice that the sea wall was pretty deserted for a change with only the odd cyclist passing me now and then. I caught sight of something tumbling through the air, from the land side of the sea wall which then fell onto the path, literally just in front of me. It turned out to be a pair of mating insects which were very striking with their striped bodies and orange/red wings. They continued to mate before separating with one resting up briefly at the edge of the path. I could see through the viewfinder that they were likely to one of the Clearwing moths, but I didn't know which one, and on looking them up when I got home I was really surprised to see that they were a pair of Fiery Clearwing. What absolute beauties and completely unexpected to see them along the sea wall! A very lucky and surprising encounter indeed!
 |
| Fiery Clearwing Pyropteron chrysidiformis |
 |
| Fiery Clearwing Pyropteron chrysidiformis |
 |
| Fiery Clearwing Pyropteron chrysidiformis |
A small group of Herring Gulls and a single Great Black-backed Gull were on the beach as I continued along. Amongst them a first summer Herring Gull was yawning away and showed an impressively large gape when it yawned.
 |
| Herring Gulls |
 |
| 1st summer Herring Gull and 2nd summer Great Black-backed Gull |
As the tide rose the Herring Gulls gradually began to make a move with the second summer Great Black-backed Gull being the last to leave.
 |
| Herring Gulls and Great Black-backed Gull |
 |
| 1st summer Herring Gull |
The Great Black-backed Gull's wing pattern was particularly striking as it took off.
 |
| 2nd summer Great Black-backed Gull |
 |
| 2nd summer Great Black-backed Gull |
I had a sit on the sea wall for a while once I reached Coldharbour and though it remained quiet out to sea I could see a couple of distant adult Mediterranean Gulls amongst the wader roost at the back of Coldharbour, together with a Little Egret, a single Shelduck and 15 Oystercatcher. Coldharbour itself had a couple of Mute Swan with a single Oystercatcher and a pair of Ringed Plover making the most of the exposed muddy margins. On the other side of the sea wall a Sedge Warbler was busy collecting insects and a Cetti's Warbler was excelling itself with the volume of its song.
 |
| Sedge Warbler |
As I came to the end of Coldharbour I caught sight of a striking Longhorn Beetle resting up on some vegetation. I looked it up when I got home and it was a very handsome Golden-bloomed Grey Longhorn Beetle.
 |
| Golden-bloomed Grey Longhorn Beetle Agapanthia villosoviridescens |
 |
| Golden-bloomed Grey Longhorn Beetle Agapanthia villosoviridescens |
 |
| Golden-bloomed Grey Longhorn Beetle Agapanthia villosoviridescens |
In the same area of vegetation there was also a male Nomad Bee. I think that it might have been a flava but telling it apart from a panzeri is probably beyond me at the moment. Still, I enjoyed watching it and should, hopefully, only improve in time with identifying more accurately the Nomad Bees.
 |
| male Nomad Bee sp ? flava |
 |
| male Nomad Bee sp ? flava |
 |
| male Nomad Bee sp ? flava |
There was another Golden-bloomed Grey Longhorn Beetle as I came to the end of the patch of vegetation. They are certainly one handsome beetle.
 |
| Golden-bloomed Grey Longhorn Beetle Agapanthia villosoviridescens |
I had another sit on the sea wall for a while but apart from a couple of Sandwich Tern it remained quiet out to sea. Patches of Sea Beet were dotted around the shingle.
 |
| Sea Beet |
 |
| Sea Beet |
I had a wander back along the bottom path in the hopes that I might catch a glimpse of or hear the Grasshopper Warbler that has been around but I didn't have any luck. I did, however, see an interesting looking little insect which on looking up I found is a Urophora stylata.
 |
| Urophora stylata |
 |
| Urophora stylata |
 |
| Urophora stylata |
A male Marsh Harrier was up at the back and the repeated call of a Cuckoo drifted over. Sedge Warblers were busy collecting insects and I hope that they have a good breeding season.
 |
| Sedge Warbler |
I decided to have a wander up towards the embankment and a family of Coot were on the River Wansum with 2 adults and 4 well grown young. The parents each had a couple of youngsters in tow.
 |
| young Coot |
 |
| young Coot and adult |
A Reed Warbler was making frequent trips collecting nesting material and spiders webs.
 |
| Reed Warbler |
 |
| Reed Warbler |
Cetti's Warbler song rang out as I reached the embankment. A swathe of the path and path-side vegetation has already been cut, as happens each year, but appeared to uncut further along so I decided to have a wander along the embankment before any more was cut and see if I might be lucky enough to catch up with a Small Blue Butterfly. The weather unfortunately had been deteriorating rapidly with ever increasing cloud cover and cooler conditions but it still seemed worth a try. I saw Small Heath resting up and it was missing a large chunk from its hindwing. A Common Carpet Moth stood out amongst the grass stems.
 |
| Small Heath |
 |
| Common Carpet Moth |
Several Azure Damselflies were resting up amongst the vegetation as I made my way along and I stopped to admire a Dark Strawberry Tortrix moth.
 |
| Dark Strawberry Tortrix Moth Celypha rufana |
A little further along a smart immature Variable Damselfly gave some nice views as I made my way past.
 |
| immature Variable Damselfly |
 |
| immature Variable Damselfly |
Several Holly Blue's were on the wing as I made my way along but no sign of the hoped for Small Blue. I came across a micro moth which I think may be a Epiblema scutulana.
 |
| ?Epiblema scutulana |
The sun was breaking through now and again and a few more butterflies were beginning to be active. I was well chuffed when I suddenly caught sight of a Small Blue Butterfly and was treated to some nice views as it fed. They are handsome butterflies and always a joy to see. I ended up seeing three altogether as I made way along towards the crossing. A Cuckoo was singing in the distance and a female Marsh Harrier was slowly quartering over the far fields.
 |
| male Reed Bunting |
 |
| male Reed Bunting |
 |
| male Reed Bunting |
Birds seen this visit included: 12 Meadow Pipit, Cormorants, Herring Gulls, 10 Whitethroat, 8 Stonechat, 1 Kestrel, Carrion Crow, 6 Ringed Plover, Sedge Warblers, Reed Warblers, 5 Great Black-backed Gull, 3 Sandwich Tern, 1 Rock Pipit, 6 Blackbird, 12 Reed Bunting, 4 Dunnock, 16 Mallard, 10 Linnet, 1 Turnstone, 4 Wren, Skylarks, 9 Goldfinch, 1 Shelduck, 2 Mediterranean Gull, 1 Little Egret, 3 Mute Swan, 5 Magpie, Starlings, 16 Oystercatcher, 5 Cetti's Warbler, 2 Marsh Harrier, 8 Coot including 4 young, 3 Cuckoo, 2 Song Thrush, 1 Tufted Duck, 1 Red-legged Partridge, 1 Common Buzzard, 3 Chaffinch, 1 Green Woodpecker,
No comments:
Post a Comment