GREENSHANK CALLS IN

 

A greenshank was seen from the Point flying northwards over the saltmarsh on Saturday 7th. This greenshank pictured above was standing in the pools in the fields on Thursday 5th.

Also noted at the Point on Saturday were 2 sanderling, 30 knot and 70 golden plovers.

Around ten snipe have been feeding in the shallow waters of the pools in the fields, some of them feeding out in the open like this bird.
Other waders have gathered at high tide with 100 redshank and 50 black-tailed godwits being the main gathering along with a few lapwing and curlew on the grassland.

More teal appeared to have arrived at the pools overnight with 450 birds being counted. All the teal are still going through their moult, so all the males currently look like females. On the pond a gadwall was a recent arrival for the autumn and also four wigeon.



The little egret high tide roost reached 65 birds on Thursday, 55 were noted on Friday including one flock arriving together of 45 birds.The wind was stronger today so many egrets remained hidden behind trees but around 45 birds were noted on Saturday around noon. One grey heron was also seen on the pond and fields.

Elsewhere in the fields a flock of 25 yellow wagtails were still feeding around the feet of the cows while 70 goldfinches were feeding on the thistles. A flock of 300 starlings were foraging across the fields too.
A wheatear was seen by the beach on Thursday and Friday. A grey wagtail flew east over the car park calling on Thursday morning.

 

The swan family with five cygnets have re-appeared on the park's borrowdyke after they went AWOL for over a couple of months. It's presumed this is the same family, albeit with one less cygnet, that had nested on the park pond but soon vanished in their search elsewhere for better feeding opportunities for the cygnets.

The brood of tufted ducks have stayed on the dyke feeding successfully by diving under the water. This youngster was one of eight ducklings in the water.
Two common terns flew along the dyke in their search for food and 20 swallows and 2 sand martins were seen over the fields.

A Mediterranean gull flew over the car park on Thursday while another bird was seen over a recently ploughed field at Chapmans Lane along with lots of black-headed gulls on Saturday early evening.

This early autumnal moth the frosted orange has started to appear in the trap over the last week or so with four individuals during Thursday night. Over 150 moths of 25 species were recorded such as chinese character, lime speck pug, common carpet, green carpet, light emerald, latticed heath, large thorn, brimstone, square-spot rustic, flounced rustic, white-point, common wainscot, large yellow underwing, lesser yellow underwing, snout and setaceous hebrew character.

Thursday was a better day for butterflies as it felt about 26 or 27 degrees. Ones noted were peacock, small copper, common blue, small heath, small white, large white, speckled wood, small tortoiseshell and comma.