SATURDAY
SEPTEMBER 29 - 2018
Hedgehog
in garden
No special
news on this front. I put the hog food with a few
mealworms in a tray in the garden again last night.
The trail camera captured what I assume is the same
Hedgehog as in previous nights, coming several times
during the night. Most of the food had gone by the
morning, though Oswald next door's cat was also
present so I think he must have had some as well.
Clouded
Yellow
Caroline
French had a Clouded Yellow butterfly at Hayling
Oysterbeds this afternoon, the first she have seen for
a couple of years and the first I have recorded this
year. She did not get a photo, but here is one I got a
couple of years ago.
Nutbourne
Heather Mills
reported on the walk by the Friends of Wildlife group
. . . 13 met this fine and sunny morning to venture
around the shores of Nutbourne. A first sighting was a
lonesome Swallow on a telephone wire as we parked up.
We looked for Yellow wagtails in amongst the Belted
Galloways that had several calves with them, but did
not locate any.
They encountered a
good number of Willow/Chiffchaff and a Song
Thrush.
They got close views
of the Whinchat that had decided to come up
onto the footpath edge.
For Heather's full
report and more photos go to . . .
http://familyfellows.com/hwg-walk-reports-2018.htm
FRIDAY
SEPTEMBER 28 - 2018
Emsworth
Peter
Milinets-Raby reports on a 'mediocre morning with
little around', though he suspects this was due to a
Peregrine being present and scaring everything
off.
Beacon Square - low tide from 9am: 70 Teal, 8 Canada
Geese, 1 Grey Wagtail.
Emsworth Harbour: 1 Chiffchaff in one of the back
gardens, 5 Little Egrets, 11 Black-tailed Godwit, 29
Turnstone, 9 Greenshank with 8 in the stream outflow
by the town feeding together in a flock, 1 Great
Black-backed Gull, 2 Meadow Pipit over, 2
Shelduck.
1 Peregrine came in from the south very low to the
mud, swooping in and dashed through the waders and
briefly and half-heartedly chased a Turnstone without
making any attempt at a snatch! It then flew up over
the town and headed west.
Nore Barn: 4 Shelduck.
Off Pook Lane: 2 Teal, 1 Greenshank, 5 Meadow Pipits
over.
Probably the same Peregrine as earlier, dashed across
the fields and again half-heartedly chased a Wood
Pigeon for 50+ metres and again seemed to give up
easily. It then headed off east. Probably just
practicing!
Conigar Point: Bird of the day was a very obliging
Wheatear perched on the wall - great photo opportunity
- I took 240 snaps!!! 54 Collared Dove in the SSSI
field. 1 Shelduck, 17 Teal, 2 Sandwich Tern, 3
Black-tailed Godwit, And a calling Chiffchaff in the
Tamarisk hedge.
Farlington
Marshes
Yesterday Mike
Wells spent a lovely 4 hours slowly walking the
coastal path of Farlington Marshes from 9.30am until
13.30pm and sent three photos of the experience.
Mike is uncertain of
the photo on the left. Is it a Willow Warbler or a
Chiffchaff? Could be either?
In the photo on the right, originally there were a
pair of Kestrels standing on the sea-wall looking
seaward when suddenly a black intruder landed
undetected beside them. One Kestrel immediately
dropped over the wall while its mate jumped in the air
as per the photo!
Here is a flock of
Starlings disturbed, Mike says, by one of his sneezes.
Keep well away from him!
Brent
Geese news
Ralph Hollins
reports that yesterday (Sep 27) a flock of 30 Brent
were on the Solent off Ryde. They are getting closer!
WEDNESDAY
SEPTEMBER 26 - 2018
Hedgehog
in garden
The Hedgehog
was back again in the garden last night with a similar
pattern of activity to previous nights. The trail
camera picked up the hog on a total of 10 visits with
the first one at starting at 20.29 and the final one
at 04.14. As before the Hedgehog spent the longest
time at the food tray on its first visit (21 min) and
these gradually got less during the night. The
intervals between visits ranged from 20 mins to 90
mins. I suspect the hog has a wander around the garden
in between visits to the food tray. The total time
spent at the food tray was 71 mins (less than last
night).
The Hedgehog left quite a bit of the new Nature's
Feast hog food uneaten in the tray, though, as before,
it did take all the mealworms. Interestingly, the hog
made two visits to the water tray for the first time
since I have been recording. Tonight I will experiment
with two trays of food, one with Mr Johnson's (from
Wilkos) and the other Nature's Feast, both laced with
a few mealworms. The water dish will also be present.
There's a good
discussion of what to feed Hedgehogs on . . .
https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/forums/topic/what-to-feed-hedgehogs-the-danger-of-too-many-mealworms/
Here are two shot of
the Hedgehog, one mooching around the tray looking for
scraps and the other sitting in the water bowl which
is behind the food tray. It does like sitting on the
trays, even the water one. Another chilly night with
the temperature down to -2C.
Nore
Barn
I went over to
Nore Barn at about 16.00 jon falling tide, to check
for the Spotted Redshank. The stream was already empty
and flowing well with fresh water. At first, I could
not see anything in the stream in the bright low sun.
Then I caught sight of a single wading bird feeding
busily in the stream - a tantalising sight which set
my pulses racing. But, no such luck; it was just a
Greenshank (not the regular one) doing a fairly good
imitation of a Spotshank. But good to see, anyway.
Video clip of the
Greenshank feeding in the stream . . .
https://youtu.be/QFDg4yAGYZc
Butterflies
slump
Today we had a
cracking Red Admiral on the Sedum flowers in the
garden, the first we have seen for quite a time.
In fact, 2018 has been
a pretty bad year for butterflies all round. Results
from the Butterfly Conservation's 'Big Butterfly
Count' show Small Tortoiseshell has suffered
particularly badly with sightings falling by 32%
compared with last year. Red Admiral and Comma were
also well down. But Whites and Holly Blue and Common
Blue have done better than last year.
Top ten were: Small White, Large White, Gatekeeper,
Peacock, Meadow Brown, Common Blue, Green-veined
White, Speckled Wood, Red Admiral Small Tortoiseshell.
See . . . https://butterfly-conservation.org/
Wild
Clary flowers
I was
interested to see that a few spikes of the Wild Clary
were still in flower on the grass verge at the
northern end of Christopher Way this week. This is
probably Emsworth's rarest wild flower!
Rowan
berries
It is so good
to see the Rowan plantation on the east side of Brook
Meadow loaded with bright red berries, the best I have
ever seen them. You can see them even better now the
Environment Agency cut a track behind the trees for
their flood protection exercise.
TUESDAY
SEPTEMBER 25 - 2018
Hedgehog
in garden
Last night, as
usual, I put 'Mr Johnson's Hedgehog Food' (from
Wilkinsons) in the tray on the patio mixed in with a
few mealworms. Much as before, the trail camera
recorded the Hedgehog visiting the tray several times
during the night: at 20.32 for 18 mins, at 21.19 for
10 mins, at 23.24 for 13 mins, at 01.34 for 20 mins,
at 03.52 for 21 mins and finally at 04.35 for 8 mins.
Unlike last night when some food remained in the tray,
this time all the food was consumed. The total time
spent at the tray was 90 mins. The only other visitors
were a cat twice in the night and a Magpie and a Grey
Squirrel when it was light.
Here are shots
from the first visit (20.32) and the last visit
(04.11) when the tray was empty
It seems that 'my'
Hedgehog has a set pattern of night time activity. It
arrives at about 8.30pm and visits 6 times spending an
average 15 mins each visit in feeding and generally
rummaging around.
Today, I got a bag of 'Nature's Feast Hedgehog Food'
from Emsworth Hardware which I shall put out tonight
along with the usual sprinkling of mealworms. It looks
the same type of food, small granules, but from the
bag appears to have a lot more ingredients with more
nutritional additives. Let's see if my Hedgehog likes
it.
Warblington
shore
Peter
Milinets-Raby had a chilly mornings visit to the
Warblington shore ahead on an incoming tide (9am to
10:46am).
Meadow Pipits flying over in little groups all morning
totalled 14+ at least. Swallows 14Yellow Wagtail 6 in
total over, 6 Pied Wagtails over, 4 Skylark over, 23
House Martin over
Off Pook Lane: 3 Greenshank (RG//- + YY//-), 27 Teal,
17 Dunlin, 37 Black-tailed Godwit, 10 roosting
Sandwich Tern, 1 Little Tern (very late date indeed),
1 Kestrel.
Conigar Point: 3 Shelduck, 9 Teal, 2 Med Gulls - 1
adult winter and a second winter, 1 Greenshank (G//R +
LO//-), 1 Chiffchaff in Tamarisk Hedge.
SSSI Field: 1 male Stonechat (see photo), 11
Goldfinch, 2 Mistle Thrush.
Brents
are getting closer
Ralph Hollins
has been checking the web sites for news of Brent
Goose movements. Yesterday he found the Trektellen web
site reported three large flocks of Dark Bellied
Brent: 482 birds on the Netherlands coast near the
German border. 357 birds halfway across the
Netherlands coast, and 493 birds near Dunkirk just
inside France. Ralph thinks this is just one flock
moving west. Also 5 birds reached Jersey.
The only recent reports from our south coast have been
- On Sept 20, 2 birds flew west past Selsey and 7
birds were at Newtown, Isle of Wight. Another single
bird was at Selsey on Sep 22.
They are a little later than usual, but they are
coming. Our first local sightings are usually late
September in the south eastern corner of Langstone
Harbour close to the Sinah Warren Holiday Resort. They
don't usually turn up in Emsworth Harbour until well
into October - here they come!
MONDAY
SEPTEMBER 24 - 2018
House
Martins gather in Emsworth
I had a phone
call from my wife who was walking round the millpond
at about 9am to say there was a large flock of
hirundines gathering around the Emsworth Sailing Club
building at the end of Bath Road. I nipped down there
quickly to see the fun and what a spectacle it was! I
would estimate about 200 birds were flying around and
perching on the wires and roof of the Sailing Club.
The photo on the left caught feeding in action.
I can't be sure, but
most of them appeared to be House Martins, probably
with some Swallows mixed in. The white rumps of the
House Martins were particularly prominent when flying
and when resting on the tiled roof.
As far as I am aware
House Martins do not nest anywhere in Emsworth and
have not done so for many years. So, these birds will
have travelled from north of the country, probably
Scotland,
Yesterday, Maggie
Gebbett reported a similar spectacle outside her house
at Nore Barn and Peter Milinets-Raby saw what he
described as probably 'a million' House Martins and
Swallows during a train journey to Chichester. This is
clearly the start of the annual migration of these
iconic birds towards their wintering grounds in
tropical Africa.
Peter thinks the bad weather forced the birds down on
their journey, so many other people along the coast
will have been enjoying the same spectacle. 'It's an
ill wind that blows nobody any good', so they
say.
Nore
Barn
I decided to
go on to Nore Barn to see if the hirundines were still
there from yesterday. There was no sign of any, but
the tide was rising nicely to high water in a couple
of hours, so I hung around to see what turned up. Out
in the bay was a large flock of over 100 ducks which I
think were Teal from their size, shape and behaviour,
though all were in eclipse plumage which made
identification tricky.
There were also 11
Shelduck, 62 Redshank , 10 Black-tailed Godwits and
three Greenshank, including G+GL which remained
snoozing by the stream when I left at about 10am.
There was no sign of its regular feeding companion,
the Spotted Redshank.
Hedgehog
in garden
I put the
usual food tray out on the patio for the Hedgehog with
a mixture of hog food and mealworms. The trail camera
caught the hog making six visits to the food tray
throughout the night, the first at 8.30pm (for 24
mins) and the last at 3.36am (for 6 mins). However,
the Hedgehog was very selective this time in picking
out all the mealworms and leaving much of the cheap
Wilkos hog food. Maybe I should try a different food?
Or stop the mealworms?
Here is a couple of images of the hog last night. The
one on the right shows it mooching around the tray at
03.40, presumably looking for mealworms. It was a
chilly night - the temperature on the camera was below
zero at -1C.
Caroline French has
constructed a neat feeding station for her three
Hedgehogs with a plastic box with a lid and a round
hole cut in the end for the hog to come and go. This
also keeps cats away from the food. I might try
something like this.
Hummingbird
Hawkmoth
Chris Oakley
was watching House Martins over his garden this
morning feeding as they moved to the south when he
spotted a Hummingbird Hawk moth feeding on the last of
the Buddleia flowers. Chris has a couple of Hedgehogs
that 'potter about the garden after dark, snuffling
their way around'. That's good news.
Birds
of Cuba
Malcolm
Phillips is still having internet issues, but managed
to send some photos of birds taken during a visit he
made to a river near the sea. Two of his birds look
very familiar to us in the UK. The one on the left
looks like our Common Sandpiper, but I suspect it is a
Spotted Sandpiper which is widespread in
N America and winters in Central and South America.
The one on the right looks like a Ringed Plover. I
suspect it is a Semipalmated Plover which does
occasionally turn up in the UK. The two plovers are
almost identical except the Semipalmated has partial
webbing in its front toes which is not clearly shown
in Malcolm's photo.
CORRECTION:
Peter Milinets-Raby identified the bird on the right
as a Killdeer
Malcolm's third photos
shows a very handsome Green-backed Heron
(sometimes called Green Heron) which I recall having
seen in Canada, but is widespread in N America.
All three of Malcolm's
birds are on the Cuba list on the web site 'Birds of
Cuba'.
SUNDAY
SEPTEMBER 23 - 2018
Hedgehog
in garden
I put the
Hedgehog food tray with hog food dashed with a
sprinkling of mealworms in the same place on the patio
as before. My trail camera worked well taking a total
of 79 images. As shown in the photos it was a fairly
chilly night (7c) with spells of rain.
The Hedgehog visited the feeding tray site three times
during the night. The first visit was at 9pm in the
rain and it stayed feeding at the tray for about half
an hour. It returned for the second time just after
midnight hunting around the tray for leftovers, coming
and going for the next hour and a half or so (see
photo on left). Its final visit was at 3am, again
coming and going as before for about an hour (see
photo on right). In between these visits to the food
tray site, I suspect the Hedgehog was wandering around
the rest of the garden unseen by the camera. I will
persevere with the food arrangement, hoping for second
hog to visit.
The only other
visitors caught by the trail camera was a domestic cat
briefly at 2.30 and 5.30 am and a Magpie at 7.30 when
it was light.
Swallows
assemble
Maggie Gebbett
whose house overlooks the bay at Nore Barn had the
pleasure of hundreds of Swallows and House Martins
assembling on her balcony in preparation for migration
to their African wintering grounds.
Maggie writes, " About
1pm there were hundreds of them flying about and then
taking over the wires on our balcony (see photo)! They
also perched on the open windows in a back bedroom and
at one point we had two of them in the bedroom! I
opened the big window and shooed them out! A wonderful
hour's birdwatching!"
I agree, that musy have been wonderful. A unique
wildlife experience. Wish they would come my way.
Fall
of hirundines
Peter
Milinets-Raby confirms that this was an amazing day
for hirundines. "The
bad weather had forced them down in their thousands.
The misty rainy conditions of this morning were
perfect for such an event. They were literally
everywhere!! On the way to work (a train ride to
Chichester at 8am) birds were seen along the whole
train journey flying low across the fields, sitting on
wires, perched on house rooftops (like the photo).
Thousands of them. Most (80% were House Martin, the
rest Swallow. There are House Martins in Maggie's
photo too. Some concentrations around biggish
industrial buildings were amazing!!! I don't think I
could put a total on the number I observed this
morning - half a million, even a million. It was that
big an event!"
Maggie sent me another
couple of pictures of this truly amazing
spectacle.
Wildlife Walk
Lesley Harris
reports on yesterday's People's Walk for Wildlife in
London organised by Chris Packham which she attended.
. . .
"Wearing my Brook Meadow polo shirt with pride, I
joined the thousands of wildlife supporters in Hyde
Park. Unfortunately I was covered from head to foot in
waterproofs, but the weather did not dampen the
enthusiasm of everyone. We had all downloaded birdsong
onto our mobile phones and the dawn chorus accompanied
our march from the Park, along Piccadilly, The Mall,
Trafalgar Square to Downing Street. The People's
Manifesto for Wildlife was delivered to No.10. The
entire route was filled with people - an amazing
sight. Let's hope the Government, Farmers, Developers,
Planners, etc. get the message. Hear, Hear, Lesley and
well done indeed!
Link to Chris's
manifesto . . . http://www.chrispackham.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Peoples-Manifesto-Download
SATURDAY
SEPTEMBER 22 - 2018
EA
flood barrier exercise
I went over to
Brook Meadow at about 10.30 this morning, with rain in
the air, to view the Environment Agency exercise in
laying down a temporary flood barrier on the east side
of the north meadow behind the Lumley Road cottages.
Such a barrier could be erected fairly quickly if a
flood was expected. Masses of workers (lads and
lasses) were laying out the barrier of aluminium
sheets, all which will be removed after the exercise.
The permanent flood barrier planned for next autumn
will be of more natural construction.
New
Rowans Path?
For the purpose of the exercise, the Environment
Agency had cut a wide path through the jungle of
vegetation around the back of the Rowan plantation.
This suggested to me what a good idea it would be to
make a permanent path around the plantation. I
discussed this with Maurice Lillie and he agreed it
would be a wonderful idea. Such a path would open up
these magnificent trees, which at present are loaded
with bright red berries, to public viewing. A path
around the plantation would also provide ready access
for the conservation group to do regular clearance
around the trees which always get covered in
bindweed.
Maurice and I thought the new path could follow the
present EA path around the back of the Rowans and then
cut through the mass of nettles and bindweed to the
left of where Tony is standing in the photo to link up
with the main path near the Aspen tree. This is very
exciting.
Hedgehog
in garden
Last night, I
put the new hog food (from Wilkos) along with just a
few mealworms in a metal tray on the patio in the back
garden with the trail camera aimed at it. The Hedgehog
arrived as usual at about 20.30 and set about eating
the food. Almost all the food had gone when I
inspected the tray this morning so the mixture clearly
was to the satisfaction of the Hedgehog.
Video
clip of the Hedgehog coming onto the patio for food .
. . https://youtu.be/HFw9yJsxS-U
People's
Walk for Wildlife
Chris Packham
did not have a very good day weather wise for his
special People's Walk for Wildlife in London. I also
got thoroughly wet and very cold at Fratton Park for
the Pompey 2 Wycombe 2 game. Lesley Harris was due to
attend walk so I will try to get a report from her.
Chris's Manifesto for Wildlife is well worth a read.
Go to . . .
http://www.chrispackham.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Peoples-Manifesto-Download
FRIDAY
SEPTEMBER 21 - 2018
Hedgehog
in garden
The Hedgehog
was in my garden again last night for about 20 mins
from 20.30, but did not seem as keen on the new food
that I bought yesterday from Wilkinsons as the
mealworms that I had left out in previous days. Some
of it was eaten, but most of it was left untouched. My
neighbour's cat did not fancy it either; it had a
sniff around, but did not take any.
Hedgehog
eating the new food on the trail
camera
Caroline French had
told to me that mealworms were not a good long term
option for Hedgehog and I checked on the internet to
find out why. I discovered that rescue centres are
seeing increasing numbers of Hedgehogs with metabolic
bone disease, which is linked to people feeding them
with large amounts of mealworms. Metabolic bone
disease is a distressing condition which basically
robs their bones of calcium and leaves them so weak
that they are barely able to stand up. Hence the
advice is to cut back on the use of mealworms and to
provide Hedgehogs a more balanced diet. Feeding
Hedgehogs with mealworms is likened to putting
children on a diet of chocolate. Hedgehogs certainly
like mealworms, but they are not good for them.
Apparently, Hedgehogs may rebel if mealworms are
suddenly switched to a more healthy food, but they
will eventually go over once they get hungry!
For more on this issue go to ... https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/forums/topic/what-to-feed-hedgehogs-the-danger-of-too-many-mealworms/
I will try the new hog
food again tonight, in a tray this time and with a few
mealworms mixed in to see how that goes.
Emsworth
to Warblington
Peter
Milinets-Raby ventured out this morning in the hope of
finding something wrecked from the storm. From 9:20am
to 11:20am - high tide throughout..
Peter Pond: 4 Coot. 45 Mallard. 1 Grey Wagtail. 1
Kingfisher.
Slipper Pond: 29 Coot. 3 Cormorants. The Kingfisher
from Peters Pond dashed over the road and flew around
Slipper Pond before dashing high over the town.
Emsworth mill pond: 5 Tufted Duck. 1 Grey Wagtail.
Unusually a small feeding flock of hirundines - 11
Swallow, 4 Sand Martin. and 1 House Martin
Beacon Square: 16 Canada Geese, 5 Shelduck. 1 Sandwich
Tern.
Off Pook Lane: 18 Sandwich Tern on the island in the
middle of Sweare Deep with 2 Common Tern.
Alas, nothing blown our way . . .
THURSDAY
SEPTEMBER 20 - 2018
Hedgehog
in garden
Last night I
scattered some mealworms onto the patio and set the
trail camera up as usual. The Hedgehog arrived at
about 20.15 as in previous nights and promptly set
about feeding on the mealworms and finished them in
about 45 mins.
Caroline French (our
local Hedgehog expert) thinks mealworms might not be
all that good for them long term, so today, on
Caroline's recommendation, I went over to Havant and
bought a bag of Mr Johnson's Hedgehog Food for £4
from Wilkinsons. This is a dry food, the composition
of which (according to the packet) is: poultry meal,
meat and bone meal, rice, maize, poultry fat, poultry
gravy, salmon oil, fish meal, prairie meal, brewers
yeast, vitamins and minerals. I shall put some out
this evening in place of the mealworms and will report
back.
PS Caroline has three Hedgehogs regularly in her
garden.
Brook
Meadow workday
At 10am this
morning 12 volunteers assembled at the tool store (HQ)
at the end of Seagull Lane for the regular third
Thursday in the month work session, led by Jennifer
Rye.
The main task was to
complete the clearance of areas on the Seagull Lane
patch with reptiles in mind .
Meanwhile, Dan
Mortimer supervised the clearance of a short stretch
of the river bank near the north bridge which will be
the site for an experimental placing of sausage shaped
gauze bags filled with soil along the edge of the
river as part of the Water Vole restoration project.
If this is
successful then the bags will be seeded with Common
Reed (Phragmites australis) obtained from Peter Pond.
It is hoped that this will enhance the river bank
habitat thus promoting the return of Water Voles.
Nore
Barn waders
I popped over
to Nore Barn in late morning 11.00-12.00 to see if any
of the regular waders had turned up. The tide was
falling - about 2-3 hours after high water and the
stream gradually emptying. It was cloudy and very
windy - the tail end of an Atlantic hurricane.
The regular colour-ringed Greenshank (G+GL)
arrived at the stream at about 11.30 and proceeded
to feed actively
Link to a video
clip of the Greenshank feeding in the stream . . .
https://youtu.be/HFuplRMIxeE
There was no sign of
the Spotted Redshank or any other birds in the stream
(apart from gulls) by the time I left at 12 noon. It
is still early for this famous bird which has been
coming to this site for the past 14 winters; last year
it did not show up until Oct-22, but with climate
change, etc, one never knows.
I had a chat with Sally who lives in the house
immediately overlooking the stream (an enviable
viewpoint) and she told me that so far this autumn she
had seen two Greenshank and a few Black-tailed Godwits
in the stream but no Spotted Redshank. She will keep a
look out and let me know if it turns up.
Golden Samphire
flowers are still proving a lovely glow to the coastal
seawall.
MONDAY
SEPTEMBER 17 - 2018
Hedgehog
in garden
I put a tray
of mealworms on the patio in the place where I found
the Hedgehog dropping yesterday with my trail camera
directed at it. Success! The camera captured a
Hedgehog coming to feed from the tray at about 20.15
when it was quite dark; it remained feeding for about
20 mins. It returned twice more, mooching around the
tray for scraps at 21.17 and again at 23.51. The
Hedgehog was fortunate to get to the food before two
of the local cats which arrived after most of the food
had been demolished. I will put the tray with meal
worms out again this evening along with a dish of
water.
Brook
Meadow
I had a stroll
around Brook Meadow this morning. Weather was fine and
very warm.
The acorns on the oak sapling that I planted on the
Seagull Lane patch in 2012, are now ripening and
starting to fall to the ground. I collected a few to
plant in pots at home. I also noticed spangle galls on
the backs of some leaves.
The meadow was quiet
of birdsong except for the autumn songs of Robins
which were widespread.
Butterflies were very scarce, but for Speckled
Woods of which I saw several mostly in the wooded
area of the site, plus a stunning Red Admiral
near the Osiers on the east side of the north meadow.
Interestingly, the Red Admiral was being attacked by
Common Wasps (guards) which have a nest in that area.
Some of the
Nursery-web spiders seem to have legs
everywhere, seemingly tangled up. I spotted this
Harlequin Ladybird crawling along the top of the south
signcase.
Temporary
Flood Barrier Training Day
I happened to
meet Peter O'Hea who explained that the Flood Barrier
Training Day this Saturday (22 September) was
basically a training exercise for the Environment
Agency in which EA workers would deploy a temporary
flood barrier along the eastern edge of the north
meadow behind the gardens of the Lumley Road cottages.
The barrier will be removed at the end of the
exercise. The real earth bund flood barrier is planned
for the Summer of 2019.
Hermitage
Millponds
There was
nothing of special interest on the two ponds. A Grey
Heron was established on the raft on Peter Pond. The
Mute Swan family with two adults and 3 cygnets was on
Slipper Millpond, where 3 Cormorants were resting on
the centre raft.
Nore
Barn
I popped over
to Nore Barn in the car this afternoon to catch the
incoming tide. The stream was empty but for a Little
Egret feeding; no Spotted Redshank or Greenshank.
However, I was pleased to find 4 Black-tailed
Godwits snoozing on the edge of the saltmarshes.
Roy Ewing came over
for a chat. He had been clearing scrub from the glades
to encourage new growth of wild flowers next spring.
He and the rest of the Nore Barn Woods group are doing
a fine job in managing this difficult, well used site.
Emsworth
to Langstone
Peter
Milinets-Raby did a massive walk this morning from
Brook Meadow to Langstone Mill Pond - low tide
throughout 9:25am to 1pm.
Brook Meadow: The first bird of the morning was
unbelievably an Osprey that flew in from Victoria Road
direction (yes, it probably flew over your house) and
circled around a couple of times above my head before
drifting off towards Thorney Island - see quickly
snapped record photo.
Peter Pond: 1
Grey Heron on the raft. 67 Mallard. 2 juv Mute Swan. 4
Coot. 4 Swallow over.
Slipper Mill Pond: 2 ad and a juv Mute Swan, 20
Coot. 2 Cormorant.
Emsworth Harbour: 24 Turnstone. 3 Greenshank. 8
Black-tailed Godwit. 5 Little Egrets. 5 Swallow over.
6 Grey Plover. 2 Sandwich Tern.
Emsworth Mill Pond: 9 Tufted Duck. 1 Cormorant.
1 Little Grebe. 13 Coot. Kingfisher heard.
Beacon Square: 1 Little Egret. 6 Teal. 2
Black-tailed Godwit.
Nore Barn: 3 Greenshank. 2 Black-tailed Godwit.
1 Teal. 7 Shelduck. 2 Meadow Pipit over.
Nore Barn Wood: 1 Chiffchaff.
The Real Conigar Point: 4 Stock Doves in the
stubble fields along with a flock of 30+ House
Sparrow.
My Conigar Point: 1 Adult winter Med Gull
amongst 123 roosting Black-headed Gull and 2 Common
Gull. 2 Greenshank.
Off Pook Lane: 2 Greenshank. 2 Grey Plover. 20+
Goldfinch. 2 Stock Dove. 1 Buzzard. 121 Black-tailed
Godwit. 18 Sandwich Tern roosting. 1 Kestrel. 142+
Redshank. 4 Common Gull.
Langstone Mill Pond: 18 eclipse Teal. 1 female
Mandarin perched away under the hanging trees. a pair
of eclipse Shoveler.
Wade Lane: 17 Long-tailed Tit in one
group.
SUNDAY
SEPTEMBER 16 - 2018
Hedgehog
in garden
This morning I
found what looks like Hedgehog poo on the patio. It
was shiny dark coloured, oval shaped and pointed at
either end. It measured just under 2cm - smaller than
a one pound coin.
Examining it with the
microscope I could see the remains of many insects,
including the wing case of at least one beetle.
Beetles are one of the Hedgehog's main foods. I will
put some mealworms out tonight along with the trail
camera, hopefully to catch it on its travels.
Chaffinch
with scaly legs
I had a
Chaffinch in the garden today - the first for months.
It had a white scaling on both of its legs and feet,
but otherwise looked OK.
I gather the scaly
legs in Chaffinches are caused mainly by mites,
similar to those that cause mange in domestic animals
and scabies in humans. They do not appear to be fatal,
although some birds may become lame or lose affected
digits.
For more information see a special BTO web page
devoted to this problem . . . https://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/gbw/gardens-wildlife/garden-birds/disease/warts
FRIDAY
SEPTEMBER 14 - 2018
Brook
Meadow
I had a very
relaxed stroll around the meadow with my camera on
this warm autumnal morning, the sort John Keats must
have had in mind when he penned his 'Ode to Autumn'. I
wonder what Keats would have done with a digital
camera. Probably not written such good poetry.
On my way I
stopped to admire this view . . .
Here are a few
memories. . .
Young Nursery-web
spiders sunbathing on the nettle leaves by the raised
river path.
Male Common Darter doing likewise on the gravel
path.
Brown cigar-shaped
spikes prominent on the Bulrushes in the river.
False Oat-grass flowering again on the main river
path.
Huge leaves of
Butterbur carpeting the ground in front of the main
seat.
Good crop of Perennial
Sow-thistle on the Lumley area.
Bright red seed capsules of Perforate St John's-wort
sparkling in the sun.
Farlington
delights
Mike Wells had
a good walk round Farlington Marshes a couple of days
ago. He was accompanied part of the way along the
seawall by this Wheatear.
Mike also noted a
number of Yellow Wagtails within inches of the
cattle's feet. Out on the mud flats there was a group
of nine Harbour Seals hauled up in the
sunshine.
SATURDAY
SEPTEMBER 8 - 2018
Canada
Goose shot
Yesterday,
Maurice Lillie and his wife had a distressing
experience as they walked along the Wickor Bank on the
west side of Thorney Island. A wildfowler at the
northern end of bank shot into a skein of geese that
was flying overhead and hit one bird which ultimately
fell on the edge of Slipper Millpond. Maurice wonders
how on earth can anyone get satisfaction from the
killing of wild birds? The photo was taken by a friend
of theirs showing the dead bird near the sluice gate
of the pond.
I suggested to Maurice
that he should forward the sighting to David Gattrell
our local responsible wildfowler who might have
something to say about this as it looks to me like a
rogue piece of shooting and not part of a legitimate
wildfowler activity. Canada Geese are not the usual
targets of shooting.
Mystery
caterpillar
Chris Oakley
sent me the following photo of a caterpillar that he
found on a Geranium leaf beneath an Oak tree in his
garden. It looks to me like the larva of a Vapourer
Moth which I have seen a few times in my own garden
and on Brook Meadow. It eats a wide range of plants
but mostly leaves of fruit trees. A creature to be
revered rather than removed?
Tern
success on Hayling Oysterbeds
Christopher
Evans was at the Oysterbeds this afternoon where he
spotted this sign (from warden, Wez Smith) giving
details of 'an epically successful' breeding season
for the Common Terns. The graph shows just 4 Common
Terns were fledged in 2016, which rose to 48 in 2017
following the introduction of the tern rafts. This
year there have already been over 70 Common Terns
fledged and the season is not yet over. What a
wonderful success story. Pity the Little Terns could
not have followed suit, but that's another story!
SATURDAY
SEPTEMBER 8 - 2018
For Saturday's walk by
the Havant Wildlife Group - report and photos at
Pagham Harbour
go to . . . http://familyfellows.com/hwg-walk-reports-2018.htm
FRIDAY
SEPTEMBER 7 - 2018
Emsworth
and Langstone
Peter
Milinets-Raby had a windy outing around Emsworth and
Langstone Mill Pond this lunchtime (from 12:45pm to
2:30pm - tide going out).
Beacon Square: 7 Dunlin.
Nore Barn: 4 Sandwich Tern sat on Buoys. 2
Shelduck.
Emsworth Harbour: 5 Sandwich Tern, 11
Greenshank (un-ringed bird close to the wall - see
photo), 19 Turnstone, 3 Black-tailed Godwit.
Emsworth Mill
Pond: There were 9 Tufted Duck today on the
pond - I had a good look at this group and 4 were
juveniles (2 were associating with a female and a male
in eclipse plumage, while the other two juvs were
diving about 40 metres away from the group of seven).
The other adults looked like males in eclipse.
Langstone Mill Pond: 3 Greenshank (usual G//R +
BR//-), 125+ Redshank (B//GY & B//NG & B//GY),
9 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Knot in with the Redshank
and Godwits (see photo). On the pond: 21 eclipse
Teal.
Brian's
notes
Tufted
Duck. Peter's observations of the 9 Tufted Duck on
Emsworth Millpond today suggest that the 6 'juvenile'
Tufted Duck I saw on the pond on Sep 4 were probably
all birds in eclipse plumage.
Knot with
Godwits. Regarding Peter's observation of one Knot
with Godwits and Redshank, I have often seen isolated
Knots with Black-tailed Godwits in the harbour at this
time of the year. As Knot are passage birds in
Iceland, I have assumed they fly here from Iceland in
company with the Godwits which breed there. Here is a
shot I got of a Knot with Black-tailed Godwits taken a
few years ago.
Spotted
Redshank. I am holding my breath for the Spotted
Redshank at Nore Barn for what would be its 15th
successive year, though it usually does not arrive
until October. Last year, we did have a couple of
sightings of a Spotted Redshank at Nore Barn in early
September (5th and 9th), though this was one was
probably just passing through. The regular Spotted
Redshank did not show up until 22-Oct which is about
its usual time. Here is the most recent shot of this
famous bird taken at the end of last season on
20-Mar-18. Keep a look out and please let me know if
you see it.
WEDNESDAY
SEPTEMBER 5 - 2018
Emsworth
and Warblington
As the tide
dropped this morning Peter Milinets-Raby had a quick
wander around Emsworth and Warblington (10:30am to
12:07pm).
Beacon Square: 1 Greenshank (B//R + BB//-), 12 eclipse
Teal, 6 Dunlin, 40+ Redshank (B//OY & G//LL), 1
Grey Wagtail over, 1 Chiffchaff and 1 Whitethroat in
one of the back gardens.
Nore Barn: 5 Greenshank, 45 eclipse Teal, 2 Shelduck,
2 Black-tailed Godwit.
Emsworth Harbour: 5 Greenshank, 1 Common Tern, 4
Little Egrets, 2 Swallow, 1 Meadow Pipit over heard
only, 16 Black-tailed Godwit, 10 Turnstone.
1 Little Grebe & a Cormorant on the Mill Pond.
Warblington (Off Pook Lane). 7 Swallow, 11 Dunlin, 226
Black-tailed Godwit, and the best birds of the
outing were 8 Knot.
Dragonfly
with prey
Brian Lawrence
had an interesting observation while at Prinsted
yesterday. He got a fine image of a Southern
Hawker dragonfly with what looks like a hoverfly
in its jaws. The photo shows the dragonfly's eye very
clearly.
Dragonflies are very efficient at catching flying
insects like small flies, having a large pair of
strong and powerful jaws with sharp teeth. It looks as
if this fly has just been caught since the wings are
still present; these are bitten off before the rest of
the body is consumed.
TUESDAY
SEPTEMBER 4 - 2018
Tufted
Duck on millpond
I was
pleasantly surprised to see a flotilla of six Tufted
Duck on the town millpond when I walked along
Bridgefoot Path this morning. From their overall plain
brown plumage and lack of any obvious tufts on their
heads, I assume these birds are juveniles from this
year's brood - maybe from Thorney Island?
Here is a close up of
one of them
Here is a link to a
video clip of three Tufted Duck on the pond today . .
. https://youtu.be/7LJ-HyNYHik
Male and female Tufted
Duck are fairly regular on the millpond in winter,
though they have been very scarce over the past 5
years or so. Let's hope they return in better numbers
this winter. My maximum count of Tufted Duck on the
town millpond was 74 on 8 Jan 2011.
I also spotted a
solitary Little Grebe fishing nearby. That's
another bird that has been scarce on the millpond in
recently years.
I was not sorry not to
see the Mute Swan pair which has driven off the large
flock of swans that used to grace the town millpond
until this aggressive pair took over. Maybe they will
stay away!
Greenshank
in harbour
A single
colour-ringed Greenshank was feeding in the low water
channel near the quay, very easy to see from the
millpond seawall with binoculars. It was ringed with
the combination: RG+BY (left leg: red/green - right
leg: blue/yellow) by Pete Potts and his team on
Thorney Island on 19-Mar-2013.
This bird has been
regularly seen in Emsworth Harbour each winter since
it was first ringed in 2013, but this was my first
sighting of this season. There are lots of other
Greenshank in the local harbours, many with
colour-rings which helps researchers to identify
individual birds and track their movements. Peter
Milinets-Raby counted an astonishing 16 Greenshank in
Emsworth Harbour on Aug 22. You can keep up with the
local Greenshanks by following Peter's regular reports
on this blog.
Common
Reed
Walking home
via Peter Pond I stopped to admire the glorious fresh
display of deep red panicles of the Common Reed on the
west side of the pond next to the path that leads to
Gooseberry Cottage. I snipped off a few stems for my
desk display. They will last through the winter.
I was interested to
read that Common Reed is probably the widely
distributed all of flowering plants in the world.
Humans have made great use of it for thatching,
fencing, fodder and for stabilizing river banks. More
recently reed beds have been used for filtering sewage
water and they are, of course, a very important
habitat for wildlife.
First
Ivy flowers
Ralph Hollins
has been watching a hedge covered with opening Ivy
flowers for some time and today one large ball of
flowers was fully open and attracting insects. Ralph
says that is as significant a marker of the start of
autumn as the arrival of the migrant Brent Geese which
should occur within the next week.
Lady's-tresses
Maureen Power
provides directions how to find these elusive flowers
on Hayling Island - see last night's blog entry
immediately below for details. . . .
MONDAY
SEPTEMBER 3 - 2018
Hayling
delights
|
Maureen Power
went down to Hayling this morning and found
the Lady's-tresses in flower (usual site,
south of the golf course).
How to find
them
I did try and make a note for myself how to
find the Lady's-tresses again as being only a
few inches tall they were not easy to spot in
the grass.
This is my suggestion - first go to the west
end of the 'Inn on the Beach' car park.
Then walk along immediately to the south side
of the golf-course wire fence.
You will come to a wooden bench seat with an
inscription about Angels.
There is a second seat just a bit further on
and slightly further from the fence.
From this second bench, looking towards the
beach you will see a wooden post.
Walking from this second bench towards the
wooden post you should find the
Lady's-tresses.
Also, you should see a scrubby oak bush to
your right - there are several groups of
Lady's-tresses in that area.
They are not easy to spot, but once you've
seen one, you will start to see lots
more.
|
|
Maureen also noticed
that nearly all the Viper's Bugloss plants there were
affected by fasciation. Fasciation is a condition of
abnormal growth affecting vascular plants in which the
tip of the plant grows in an unusual direction
producing contorted tissue. Viper's Bugloss is a plant
which appears to be particularly affected by it. I too
have seen this on many occasions on Hayling Island
beach. The normal Viper's Bugloss is on the right.
SUNDAY
SEPTEMBER 2 - 2018
Brook
Meadow
Work
session - It was a fine and warm autumnal morning
for the work session which was well attended with 12
volunteers.
Mike was leading and
outlined the main task for the morning which was
cutting and clearing the east side of the north meadow
in preparation for the flood defence work planned by
the Environment Agency.
They also cut and
cleared the two experimental areas on the north meadow
which are working quite well. A good number of wild
flowers were on show which would not have emerged
without the cutting. These included a couple of nice
patches of Red Bartsia. The photo shows Colin using
the power scythe to cut these areas supervised by
Maurice.
The areas around the
planted Oak trees on the Seagull Lane patch was also
cut and partially cleared.
The break for coffee
and biscuits was much appreciated by all
Video clips of this
morning's work session
1. Volunteers clearing
the north meadow . . . https://youtu.be/y-AuKbHcNn0
2. Dumping the
cuttings . . . https://youtu.be/q25mDkHl_P8
3. Clearing the
Seagull Lane patch . . . https://youtu.be/GwHrqszhebI
Mike's full report
with more photos will soon be on the Brook Meadow web
site at . . . https://www.brookmeadow.org.uk/conservation-news/
Wildlife
observations
Volunteers
called me over to look at two slugs and two spiders
that had been transported onto the meadow inside one
of the bags for collecting arisings. The spiders were
the large house spiders (Tegenaria
gigantea) obviously disturbed from their
normal habitat. I am no good on slug identification,
but I recall seeing one during a workday on Brook
Meadow in August 2012 which I think was identified as
Dusky Slug (Arion subfuscus) or possibly
Leopard Slug (Limax maximus) (Aug 16-18
2012)
The morning was
notable for the scarcity of butterflies. I saw a
Speckled Wood and Maurice Lillie reported seeing
Common Blue and Large White, but that is it.
I was interested to see both acorns and Knopper galls
(which distort acorns) on the small Oak that I planted
on the Seagull Lane patch. The galls do not harm the
tree, rather show it is in good health. You can see a
Knopper gall forming on the large acorn.
Farlington
Marshes
Ros Norton
reported on the walk by Havant Wildlife Group.
For the report with photos go to . . .
http://familyfellows.com/hwg-walk-reports-2018.htm
Thorney
Island
Caroline
French decided to forego the Farlington Marshes walk
today in favour of a walk all the way around Thorney
Island, hoping to see an Osprey before they head
off.
"I did eventually have two sightings, possibly of
different birds, as three have been apparently been
seen. One was right at the tip of the island and had
caught a fish, and the other was at The Deeps.
Other highlights were
a Sandwich Tern with a fledged juvenile and two adult
Common Terns with two fledged juveniles. All the
juveniles were begging for food!
There were about 80
Grey Plovers, many still in partial breeding plumage,
a single Bar-tailed Godwit and two Sand Martins in
amongst the many Swallows. There were a few Wheatears
about, but I didn't see any Yellow
Wagtails.
For
the previous entries go to . . August
1-30
