END OF THE HEAT-WAVE

The only wildlife of any interest to report on for the last few days has centred around the moth trap. Two recent sessions at the country park on Tuesday 29th and Thursday 31st, yielded a good variety of moths, as the mini-heatwave of recent days draws to a close. The warm weather has been good for the moths. Forty species were noted on the first session with 45 on the second one.

The brick-red coloured ruby tiger moth pictured above, is an attractive addition to the moth trap at the moment. It's usually seen during the second half of July and early August in small numbers. On Tuesday night four were noted while 3 were seen on Thursday night.

Some of the other moths seen included pine hawk, poplar hawk, iron prominent, peacock moth, scorched carpet, red twin-spot carpet, small blood vein, silver-Y, poplar grey, drinker, early thorn, white-spotted pug. There were also four of the scarce starworts, also the similar shark for comparison nearby.

The delicate latticed heath with its distinctive lattice markings on the wings, was found in one of the traps. It can be quite a numerous moth in the traps during late summer.

The small least carpet has become a regular visitor to the trap. It used to be a very local moth in the county but numbers have increased in recent years.

The only opportunities to check the mudflats has been on a couple of recent evenings but the tide has been well out and so have the waders. At least 200 black-tailed godwits have been the most noticeable waders seen with 5 golden plover, 100 dunlin, 50 redshank, as well as lots of oystercatchers and curlew. A couple of little egrets could be seen feeding in some mudflat pools.

Along the beach the usual 50 sand martins flew around the cliff where many are still nesting. The male sparrowhawk was seen on two consecutive evenings heading towards the trees on the clifftop where it has some hungry young to feed. The loud calls of at least one young sparrowhawk have been heard in recent days from the general area where they nested last year.

Two nightingales were heard calling to each other from the back of the pond with one "wheeting" and the other replying with a croak call. The other nightingale in the car park was also heard today calling, so both pairs will have bred this year. They will probably be around for only another fortnight before they head back south.

Around the park a migrant hawker dragonfly was seen along one path and later from the hide, two foxes were seen at dusk. On the pond a water vole was seen feeding for a few minutes at the base of a clump of reedmace.