EVENING WADER ROOST

The main pool in the country park's grazing fields still held enough water in it on Wednesday 10th for this group of waders to roost during the high tide. In the early evening there were 150 redshank and 30 black-tailed godwits along with a handful of lapwings.

The swan family spent Wednesday on the park pond, here one of the white cygnets following a parent bird, beside some of the roosting little egrets in the bushes. Thirty little egrets were counted in the bushes and trees behind the pond.

Following the discovery by Alan Adkins of a ringed plover nest on the park beach near the old fort, this area was roped off to avoid the nest being damaged by walkers on the beach.

A quick peek at the nest revealed three very well camouflaged eggs among the shells and shingle. The nest is in a very vulnerable location on a well used and narrow bit of beach. Without the nest being cordoned off, no-one would even think there was a nest with eggs to avoid here. The ringed plover was quick to return to the nest as soon as I returned to the nearby seawall path and started to walk away.
Fingers crossed the eggs soon hatch out and the chicks manage to avoid the walkers and dogs on the beach.

The first wasp spider of the summer was found in a clump of sea purslane on the side of the park seawall on Thursday evening.

A brimstone butterfly paid a brief visit to the white buddleia by the park toilet building on Friday 12th, here pictured with a small tortoiseshell.

Early on Friday morning a painted lady was soaking up the early morning sun's rays on the side of the park seawall.

A big chunky dor beetle was found in one of the moth traps situated by the seawall early on Friday morning. It's been a few years since the last dor beetle was seen at the park, and that was in this same general area too. The dor beetle feeds on dung and performs a useful job in the countryside, eating its own weight in dung every day!