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 * * * CURRENT DAILY WILDLIFE BLOG * * *
for late April 2019
(in reverse chronological order)

Send wildlife observations and photos to Brian Fellows at . . . brianfellows at tiscali.co.uk

Blog Archives . . . from 2012 to current

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TUESDAY APRIL 30 - 2019

Nightingales at Marlpit Lane
Jo Bray heard one, possibly two, Nightingales singing yesterday afternoon, albeit briefly. Jo parked in one of the lay-bys just beyond the turning to the works (facing north). That's good news to hear that these iconic birds have returned to their traditional summer breeding area, despite the extensive works and development that has occurred over the past few years. I would appreciate any other hearings.


Millpond ducklings
John Vickers reports that thirteen Mallard ducklings hatched in his garden in School Lane late afternoon yesterday. After a night back at the nest site with their mother, and two or three further excursions this morning, they left via the garage and were escorted by local residents down to the millpond, plunging straight in 'as a duck to water'. We wish them the best of luck, they will need it as there are many hungry predators in the area.


News from Cuba
It is so good to hear that Malcolm Phillips had a successful wildlife photography exhibition in Cuba. He said it attracted lots of visitors who said it was the first time they had ever seen photos of birds on show; previously photos were always political.

Malcolm is in the centre with the checked shirt

Malcolm has also been asked to visit a day care home to show the photos and next week he goes to a cigar factory to talk and show the photos. Well done Malcolm. He sends a photo of a Yellow-Crowned Night Heron.


Selborne Cuckoo disappears
Keith Betton reports the sad news that the Hampshire Cuckoo named 'Selborne', sponsored by HOS since 2016 has disappeared off the radar. The BTO last heard from Selborne's transmitter at midday on 4 April when he had just arrived in Spain. Unfortunately it looks as if he died overnight 4 - 5 April. His last location shows him over a southern ridge of the Sierra Morena mountains and it looks as if he was stopped suddenly in his tracks as he topped that slope. We will probably never know what happened to Selborne but it would appear most likely that he was either taken by an avian predator or succumbed to human hunters.
Selborne was ringed in the New Forest in the summer of 2016 and named by the HOS members that year. Since then we have followed Selborne over two complete migration loops from Hampshire to his wintering grounds in Gabon. He was only 1,430 Km (888 miles) from completing his third migration loop.
He was an impressive Cuckoo - and always the first of the tagged birds to head back home. We will summarise his story in Kingfisher in July.

Keith added . . . There are all kinds of possibilities and none can be ruled out.... such as tag failure or tag loss. He might also have simply died from his big flight and perhaps with too little food. The BTO takes the view that predation of some kind is the most likely. I'll ask them to give more background if they can.


MONDAY APRIL 29 - 2019

Brook Meadow
Main news of the day from Brook Meadow is the arrival of at least two and probably three singing Whitethroats. I heard the first one singing from the top of the tall Crack Willow tree on the west side of the north meadow where I managed to get a distant photo of it. Welcome home.

I heard a second one on the east side of the north meadow near the Lumley copse, though it is possible that this was the same bird moving across. A definite third Whitethroat was singing strongly from the large bramble bush immediately north of the causeway - perfect nesting habitat for this bird.

They are a little earlier than last year, but a few days later generally than in previous years. The good thing is that they have arrived safely, having travelled far from their wintering grounds in Central Africa to be with us. Well travelled.

It was also good to see one of our resident Carrion Crows gleaning for insects on the Lumley area. Carrion Crows are ever present on the meadow and an important part of the ecosystem.

Plants:
The large Ash on the railway embankment is now sprouting leaves, but sparsely. There has been no flowers at all this year.

Newly flowering are Wintercress at the junction of the north-east path and the path across to the north bridge, Meadow Buttercups in the orchid area to supplement the Creeping variety that have been out for a week or two, Ribwort Plantain also on the orchid area and Common Sorrel on the centre meadow.

The Ransoms that Dan Mortimer planted last year in the north-east corner near the grass cuttings are in flower again. Dan has cleared the area around them.

What I think is Slender Spike-rush (Eleocharis uniglumis) is now out in the centre of the Lumley area where it has been found in previous years. I checked the lower glumes of which only one showed a spikelet. In Common Spike-rush (Eleocharis palustris) both lower glumes will be empty.

The clump of Remote Sedge on the path through Palmer's Road Copse has just started to flower. So far this year I have logged 8 of the regular 14 sedges on the Brook Meadow list.

A hoverfly - possibly Syrphus ribesii and a multi-spotted Harlequin Ladybird.

Part of the observation fence in Palmer's Road Copse has been damaged for some weeks. It not only looks bad, but it opens up the river bank to trespass. It needs repairing.


Hermitage Millponds
The pair of Canada Geese were on Peter Pond this morning being relentlessly pursued by the cob swan. Meanwhile the pen swan continues to incubate her eggs. I wonder how many?

Common Vetch and Wood Speedwell are in flower on the edge of Peter Pond in front of Gooseberry Cottage. Note the distinctive spike at the tip of the leaves. Wood Speedwell has hairs all round the stem as distinguished from Germander Speedwell which has two lines of hairs down each side of the stem.

The Lillywhite's patch south of Gooseberry Cottage has been cut and partially cleared. With what purpose I wonder?

Over on Slipper Millpond the Canada Goose pair are still nesting on the centre raft and the Great Black-backed Gulls on the south raft.


Bridge Road Wayside
Newly flowering on the wayside are Common Sorrel and False Fox Sedge.

Barren Brome is abundant on the wayside and looks so attractive with its panicles swaying gently in the breeze.


SUNDAY APRIL 28 - 2019

Baffins Pond cygnets
Eric Eddles managed to snap the complete Mute Swan family on Baffins Pond this morning with 7 gorgeous cygnets. The Emsworth pair are way behind the Baffins duo. Nice one, Eric.


SATURDAY APRIL 27 - 2019

Late news
Christopher Evans had two Spoonbills at Medmerry on April 25.

Eric Eddles saw the first cygnets of the year on Baffins Pond yesterday.

Derek Mills got this cracking shot of a Magpie chasing a male Kestrel at Pulborough Brooks today


THURSDAY APRIL 25 - 2019

Garden Egret
The Little Egret was back on the wall at the end of the garden for the second day running. This time I was ready for it with my camera at the ready. I got a rather nice zoomed photo of it through the window with its plumes blowing in the wind. To think about 20 years ago I went to Spain hoping to see a Little Egret; now I have one in my back garden. How times have changed!

A pair of Mallard are also regular visitors to the garden, having come over the wall from the stream at the end of the garden. They are quite fun to have in the garden; sometimes two males turn up in pursuit of the female. They also do a good job of cleaning up seeds dropped from the holders hanging on the cherry tree.


WEDNESDAY APRIL 24 - 2019

Brook Meadow
I went over to the meadow this afternoon mainly to have a look at the spot where Chris Luna thought he saw a Water Vole yesterday. All I saw was a Brown Rat scrambling through the brambles on the river bank. This is not Water Vole behaviour. A Water Vole would be more likely sitting low on the bank near the water's edge, nibbling vegetation. The area in question is just beneath a large Hawthorn bush which is just coming into blossom. Behind it is the tall metal fence which has sheds and lots of car rubbish behind it - a good habitat for rats. I hung around for about 15 mins, but saw nothing else. I think Chris was mistaken about the Water Vole, but it is easy to do.

I posted a query about the poor state of the large Ash tree on the railway embankment onto a Facebook Group specialising in wild flowers and I had lots of replies.

The general opinion is that Ash is generally very slow coming into leaf this year all over the country and well behind Oak, so not to worry! The lack of flowers is more puzzling. One respondent thought the lack of flowers could be due to the tree changing its sex! I noticed leaves had not really opened properly on the younger Ash trees near the main seat, so maybe Ash is generally slow.

I had a look for insects on the nettle leaves along the main river path. I saw two Ladybirds with quite different patterns of spots. The first with multiple spots and prominent white 'cheeks' is one of the common colour variants of Harlequin Ladybird. The other looks like one of our native 7-spot Ladybirds - probably the most common of the various Ladybirds.

I also saw what I think is a Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) with its typical abdomen pattern showing through its translucent wings. Also several Nursery-web spiders (Pisaura mirabilis)

Fnally, I picked up a nice Woodpigeon feather on the causeway.


Garden Egret
While I was out on Brook Meadow this afternoon we had a Little Egret visiting the garden. My wife grabbed my spare camera and took some distant (unzoomed) shots of the bird perched on one of our new Willow trellis panels which was rather nice to see. We do get fairly regular sightings of an Egret on the back wall which overlooks the Westbrook Stream, but this one was especially welcome as I wondered that we might not see it again after seeing one dead in the stream, but all is well. The Egret lives!


Langstone Mill Pond
Peter Milinets-Raby managed a quick 30 minute visit to Langstone Mill Pond this morning from 9am to 9:30am. His report follows . . .

The tide was out and there was little water in the channel and consequently there was virtually nothing to be seen except a single Shelduck. As a result I concentrated on the Little Egret colony, trying to establish a nest count.

I managed to count 18 certain nests, but with the foliage growing up quickly and the impossible non visibility situation with the main Holm Oak, it was difficult to gauge numbers beyond this total. However, I suspect that this very dense Holm Oak probably holds another 3 to 5 nests at least, bringing the current total to 18 to 23 pairs, which is only slightly down a few pairs from last year. And, as yet, no Little Egrets have nested on the island.

Other birds of note on this shortened visit included just one pair of Tufted Duck, 2 singing Reed Warbler, a singing Blackcap and a couple of calling Mediterranean Gulls flew over. I managed to get back to the car before the first rains moved in.

Yesterday, the only species of note were my first single Little Tern was seen dashing along the Sweare Deep channel and there were 10 Black-tailed Godwits, a Whimbrel and a summer plumaged Greenshank on the low tide mud.


TUESDAY APRIL 23 - 2019

Brook Meadow
The large Ash tree on the railway embankment has a number of leaf buds bursting, but no flowers. Flowers should but out before the leaves which suggests to me that something a seriously amiss with this tree. Could this be Ash die-back? I will make inquiries.

Purple flowered Common Comfrey is out at the southern end of the north meadow.

Divided Sedge is now in flower and widespread on the Lumley area.

Today I also found a good crop of Glaucous Sedge in much the same central area as in previous years.


Hermitage Millponds
There has been a small fire along the edge of the path leading to Gooseberry Cottage from the main road. A section of the grass verge has been burnt along with some of the reeds on the west side of the pond. The fire is not extensive and looks as if it was extinquished quickly, but it could have been serious if the reeds had caught. The fire was very close to where the Mute Swan is nesting.

Both Mute Swans were at the nest in the reeds when I passed by at about 3pm this afternoon. I could see 3 eggs in the nest and there could be more. The tide was high at 3pm but the nest was well above the level of the water.

There was no sign of Canada Geese today and the raft held only Black-headed Gulls and the resident Moorhen. Maybe the geese have finally given up.

The large Laburnum bush on the south side of Peter Pond next to the road is in full flower and looks very fine indeed.

Meanwhile all was quiet on Slipper Millpond with the nesting pair of Canada Geese on the centre raft and one of the Great Black-backed Gulls sitting on a nest of the south raft.


Young Blackbird
I was delighted to see the first young Blackbird in the garden this afternoon being fed by its parents. This pair of Blackbirds have been regular visitors to my feeding station for several weeks and I like to think I have played a small part in providing the adults with a regular food source.


Leaf Cutter Bees
Last summer Sue Thomas had a Leaf-cutter Bee (Megachile Willughbeilla) making burrows in a pot of succulents on an outdoor table and cutting and carrying circles of wisteria leaves (see blog for July 30 2018). All winter Sue's two pots, have been in and greenhouse and conservatory and today 5 bees emerged in the conservatory which were carefully caught and released - so now they have seen the whole cycle. Here's Sue's photo of one of the bees struggling to find its way out of the window.


MONDAY APRIL 22 - 2019

Wayside Cuckooflowers
I counted 102 Cuckooflowers on the wayside in Bridge Road car park - down on last year's total of 157. In fact, numbers of Cuckooflowers has been falling since I first started counting in 2012 when we had a record 694. 2014 - 466. 2015 - 338. 2016 - 268. 2018 - 157. I suspect this fall is due to the lack of regular mowing by the Council which the wayside always used to have before it became an official wayside. In fact, we have lost many other interesting plants since the regular mowing ceased. It might be useful to reinstate the regular mowing, at least for a trial period. Strangely, we have very few Cuckooflowers on Brook Meadow. The habitat is clearly not to their liking.


Other wayside news
Keel-fruited Cornsalad is flowering as usual on the pavement on the corner of St James Road.

Grasses now in flower around the town include Meadow Foxtail, Barren Brome, Soft Brome, Cocksfoot and Tall Fescue.


Cetti's Warblers
We now have two Cetti's Warblers on the Brook Meadow site: one was singing strongly this morning in Palmer's Road Copse and a second was singing from the copse north of Peter Pond.


St Marks Flies
While walking through Brook Meadow this morning I came across swarms of black flies around the Crack Willow trees on the north meadow which I recognised as St Mark's Flies. I see these distinctive flies at this time each year. They are so called because they emerge around St Mark's Day on 25th April. They fly around hedges, grassland and woodland edges throughout the spring. This was the best photo I could get today of the insects in flight.

The shiny black males have long dangling hind legs which you can just make out in the above photo. Females are larger with with smaller eyes and legs. Here is a nice photo I got a few years ago on Brook Meadow showing a pair mating on a nettle leaf. The male is on the left and the larger female on the right.


Hermitage Millponds
Despite what I reported yesterday about the pair of Canada Geese having been seen off Peter Pond by the swan cob, well they were back on the raft on the pond this morning, not seemingly nesting, but definitely back in residence!

The pen swan was snug on her nest in the reeds on the west side of the pond. The nest has been built up well and is probably well clear of the highest tides.


Peter's migrant news
Peter Milinets-Raby reports . . .
"The last three days have typically been a hard slog, with each passing day the migrants have painstakingly dripped out like the drops of juice being squeezed out of a lemon. Looking back over my notes for the last six springs, historically this drip, drip of migrants is alas the norm.
The arrival dates for the regular and breeding summer visitors for the area are surprisingly fairly consistent. These breeding species In order of arrival are Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Swallow, Reed Warbler and Whitethroat. Nothing else breeds in the area, so consequently any other migrant in the area in spring is a big event!
Passing through the area (based on number of records and arrival dates) are Wheatear (Only 4 spring records), Whimbrel (Loads), Willow Warbler (Less than 20 in spring - ridiculously few in number, but abundant on the return autumn passage), Cuckoo (just 4 records and none since 2015), Sandwich Tern (loads), Sand Martin (Only 5 records), House Martin (Only 6 records), Yellow Wagtail (only 6 records), Sedge Warbler (Just 3 spring records), Lesser Whitethroat (2 records), Pied Flycatcher (1 record), Common Tern (loads), Redstart (2 records), Little Tern (Less than 25 records), Osprey (2 records), Common Sandpiper (just 1) and finally Swift (always arrives late, but less than 10 spring records).
That leaves a huge list of summer migrants that have not been seen in spring, but recorded only once or twice in autumn and these are Garden Warbler, Tree Pipit, Hobby, Black Tern, Turtle Dove, Whinchat (only 5 records) and Spotted Flycatcher (6 records).

This morning was no exception to the norm, with just a handful of summer visitors seen, the best of them being 2 Common Terns seen perched on a buoy out in the channel off Langstone Mill Pond.
The full details of my outing this morning to the Warblington shore and Langstone Mill Pond were as follows (6:20am to 9:50am - very loooooow tide throughout).
Warblington Castle Farm: 2 Swallows,
Ibis Field: 2 male Blackcap, 1 Chiffchaff, 4 Song Thrush, 1 Moorhen, 2 Grey Wagtails, A pair of Pheasant, 1 singing Skylark heard.
Heard in the distance from the cress beds was a Cetti's Warbler. Another Cetti's was singing from the stream along the hedgerow behind Conigar Point, along with a Whitethroat and a Blackcap.
In the mini reed bed behind Conigar Point there was a singing Reed Warbler.
The SSSI field held 2 Whitethroat.
From Conigar Point there were 9 Shelduck and 2 Med Gulls.
Off Pook Lane: The aforementioned 2 Common Tern along with a single Whimbrel on the mud (And a flock of 4 calling birds flew east along the channel and kept going), a pair of Red Breasted Merganser a Lesser Black-backed Gull and 4 Shelduck.
In and around Langstone Mill Pond: 3 pairs of Tufted Duck (see photo)

There were 21 Little Egrets present, but from the restricted views due to the rich foliage growing up, new nest sites were hard to determine. It looks like that the 11 nests I counted the other day maybe all we are going to get this year. I suspect there are probably up to five more nests hidden away in the Holm Oak, but that is a guess. There are as yet, no Little Egrets nesting on the island.
The Grey Heron youngster in Nest 11 was flapping wildly (see photo) and there appears to be only one chick in Nest 4.

Also present were 2 singing Blackcap, 1 singing Chiffchaff, 1 male Reed Bunting singing, 3 singing Reed Warblers with two birds seen chasing each other though the reeds (There were no Sedge Warblers singing). One singing Reed Warbler had some wonderful bursts of mimicry that included the odd Bearded Tit "ping" note and Yellow Wagtail call intermingled with Swallow and Blue Tit. A wonderful sound.


Orchids and an Adder
Roy Ewing had a cycle down to Gunner Point this afternoon to seek out the Green-winged Orchids - and what a display! Thousands, with many more to develop.

And on the way back along the Hayling Billy line Roy had to swerve to avoid an Adder in the middle of the track - just south of the Oyster Beds. It eventually slithered to safety, whilst Roy directed other cycles around it. Approximately 30cm in length.

Roy also saw an Adder here a couple of years ago, north of the Oyster Beds and believes this area is a "hot spot" for Adders, so will be extra cautious in future. I certainly agree with Roy. The area around Hayling Oysterbeds has long been known as prime area for Adders and I too have seen one on a couple of occasions. What a great sighting. Thanks Roy.


SUNDAY APRIL 21 - 2019

Brook Meadow
A very warm morning for today's constitutional through the meadow.
From the north bridge I walked north along the main path to have a look at the large Ash tree on the railway embankment that I have been concerned about. I was interested to see some evidence of leaf buds opening and at least one clutch of flowers, but these looked rather weak. The flowers always come before the leaves on Ash. Generally, the tree still looks pretty sad, but while there is life there is hope, I suppose.

On the river bank opposite the Ash, I got a rather nice picture of a Dock Leaf Bug (Coreus marginatus) on a flower head of Cow Parsley. I was pleased with that one.

A little further along the north path I came across a tiny Wren having a dust bath.

During the walk, I heard four singing Blackcaps. 1. from the brambles in the north west corner of the north meadow. 2. from the edge of the Lumley copse. 3. on east side of the south meadow near the Lumley gate. 4. from Palmer's Road Copse. I will keep note of these possible nesting locations.

I was listening out for early Whitethroat arrivals (Peter Milinets-Raby had two at Warblington yesterday - see Peter's report bewlow). There was no sound of any song, but they should be here very soon.

There were not as many butterflies as I might have expected on such a warm (almost hot) morning, but male Orange Tips were everywhere along with what I assume were white female Orange Tips and some Small Whites. I also saw a couple of Peacocks a Brimstone and a few Speckled Woods. What was my first Holly Blue of the year settled nicely for a photo in Palmer's Road Copse.

My first open flower of Lords and Ladies showing the inner spadix was on the path behind Lillywhite's Garage.


Peter Pond news update
Dan Mortimer has been keeping me posted on what he called 'the turf war' on Peter Pond.

"On Thurs afternoon the pair of Canada Geese completed their nest and laid a couple of eggs and from then on the cob swan spent the whole day chasing the geese around the pond being the boss. The geese lead him a merry dance swimming in every direction which confused the cob with one of them always ending back on the raft and the other goose swimming in the opposite direction leading the cob a merry dance.
On Friday morning the cob swan got onto the raft and chased off the sitting Canada Goose, exposing the 2 eggs. A Grey Heron swooped onto the raft after the eggs only to be chased off immediately by one of the geese. The nest was left empty for the rest of the day.
Early Saturday morning one of the Canada Geese was back on the nest, but the war continued with the cob swan manically chasing the geese up and down the pond. Later in the day the geese appeared to have given up on their nest. Gulls (Herring or Great Black-backed) had taken the eggs and the nest seems to be empty."

This morning I saw no sign of the Canada Geese on Peter Pond - and the nest site on the raft was empty except for the regular flock of Black-headed Gulls and one Moorhen.

However, I did spot a Coot sitting on top of a 'tower nest' by the reeds on the west side of the pond (close to where the Mute Swan is nesting).


Langstone Mill Pond
This morning Peter Milinets-Raby had a pleasant two hour proper bird watching visit to Langstone Mill Pond from 6:40am via Wade Lane. Even though it was another mundane migrant day, it was a great birding day. The highlights with photos were as follows:
Wade lane:
2 Swallows perched on overhead wires and already dashing into the open door of the pony stable. A very confiding Mistle Thrush stuffing its bill with worms. How do they add to the wriggling mass when the beak is so full? It made several trips, taking the beak of food to its nearby nest in the trees beside Wade Court.

2 male Blackcap. 1 Whitethroat, Buzzard on the ground in one of the paddocks, Med Gull over. Male Pheasant calling with its comical call, like an explosive sneeze as it jumps and flaps its wings and puffs itself up all at the same time!

Langstone Mill Pond:
Male and 2 female Teal still lingering - possible breeders. male and female Reed Bunting - male singing fairly close in the reeds, 4 Reed Warblers, Blackcap heard singing, plus Chiffchaff. 2 male and 1 female Tufted Duck, 18 Little Egrets present.

And all hell broke out in the heronry when the male from Nest One chased off the nest its four old siblings, the last one put up a stubborn brat-like defiance with lots of submissive postures until eventually flying off. The male then displayed on the nest with plenty of neck raising and puffing up its neck feathers. This pair always have a second brood.


Terns at Hayling Oysterbeds
Chris Cockburn reports that Common Terns have been inspecting the Hayling Oysterbeds' Lagoon site where some Black-headed Gulls are now laying eggs. It is likely that,very timely, the large Common Tern raft will be afloat in the next two weeks or so by when the terns will be getting into breeding condition while the vast majority of the Black-headed Gulls will be on nest and not likely to take over the tern's provided habitat.


Bluebells and Orchids
Pam and Roy Ewing did their annual pilgrimage to Racton Park Farm to see the Bluebells this afternoon. Roy says they were at their best, a few days earlier than last year. A family group were having an Easter egg hunt - a novel use for a bluebell wood!

On the way back they stopped off at Hollybank Woods - the Bluebells are at their best - rather better than I reported in this blog on the 10th. Roy and Pam also sought out the Early Purple Orchids - finding at least 100 spikes. Roy thought the orchids were moving northwards, away from the areas they used to be. That's interesting. I must check it out. Any other views?


White Stork at Nutbourne
Mandy Dridge couldn't believe her eyes when she saw a beautiful White Stork in the cow field at Farm Lane Nutbourne on Friday 19 April. White Stork is a very rare bird in this country, but there are fairly regular sightings, including one by my friend Caroline French on Thorney on Mar 24. It is could be the same bird. Has anyone else seen one recently?


FRIDAY APRIL 19 - 2019

Canada Geese nesting on Peter Pond
A pair of Canada Geese has been hanging around Peter Pond for the past couple of weeks, much to the annoyance of the cob swan. The pen swan has been on her nest in the reeds for about a week. Well, this morning I saw one of the geese sitting on a nest on the raft in the centre of the pond. This would be the first time in my memory that Canada Geese have actually nested on Peter Pond. A pair has nested on the neighbouring Slipper Millpond for the past three years, but not on Peter. Dan Mortimer tells me there have been skirmishes with the cob swan, so it will be interesting to see how the situation develops.


Brook Meadow
I had my first Speckled Wood of the year in Palmer's Road Copse.

Meadow Foxtail grass is now well developed in patches. This is always the first grass to show on the meadow.

I spotted a Stock Dove tucked up in a cavity in one of the large Crack Willow trees by the main path through Palmer's Road Copse - possibly nesting? They do usually nest in holes in trees with a small amount of vegetation added. I often hear Stock Dove cooing song in the copse, but have never actually seen a nest before.


THURSDAY APRIL 18 - 2019

Brook Meadow Workday
It was a fine spring day for this morning's conservation work session on Brook Meadow led by Colin Brotherston. Nine volunteers were present for the group photo but others arrived later.

The main tasks involved clearing up the piles of trees cuttings partly for the bonfire and partly for the log pile for collection for home wood burners. Several volunteers were engaged in moving the pile of wood chippings from near the tool store in barrows to lay on muddy paths on the east side of the north meadow. I moved around taking photos of the work for the web site and noting any wildlife of interest. We had a treat at the break when Pam revealed a bag of hot X buns for us to have with coffee. They were excellent. Dan is looking forward to his!

A full report with more photos is on the Brook Meadow web site at . . . https://www.brookmeadow.org.uk/conservation-news/


Wildlife observations
Several what I assume were Small White butterflies were fluttering around the meadow, but none stopped long enough for close inspection. They are a couple of weeks later than usual. Here is one taken last year.

There was a collection of about a dozen blue Flea Beetles (Altica lythri) on the nettle leaves on the main river path. These are fairly common on the meadow in spring time. They get their name from their ability to jump when touched.
Nearby was a pair of 7-spot Ladybirds mating.

I saw dozens of young Nursery-web spiders 'sunbathing' on the nettle leaves along the main river path, some with front pairs of legs held rigidly straight out in front of them, others (less mature?) with their legs twisted up. These spiders get their common name from the dense silk nursery tent that the female builds for her spiderlings. These are often seen dotted around the meadow in summer, usually with the female standing guard nearby.

While standing under one of the Black Poplars I listened to the sound of hundreds of tiny green seeds cascading down onto the ground around me, hitting the ground like tiny hail stones. The seeds were all over the ground, resting on nettles and other vegetation. That confirms my earlier speculation about these trees that they are definitely female!

I am moving towards the identification of our two Black Poplar trees as 'Florence Biondi' - 'straight stemmed, graceful with fairly sparse foliage denser at the crown' (Collins Tree Guide. p.158). Here are some young leaves.


Dead-nettles
I had a close look at the two Dead-nettle species which we have on Brook Meadow both of which have very attractive flowers when looked at closely. White Dead-nettle is the more robust of the two plants, standing tall, with white flowers arranged in well spaced whorls. It has pointed heart-shaped leaves, which could be mistaken for Common Nettle leaves but they have no stinging hairs.
Red Dead-nettle is a smaller plant with whorls of reddish purple flowers and rounded heart-shaped leaves which are stalked. It also has no stinging hairs, though its leaves are unlikely to be confused with Common Nettle. I gather young plants have edible tops and leaves, though personally I prefer to see these lovely plants untouched in the wild.

I was interested to learn recently that Red Dead-nettle occasionally has white flowers, though I have not seen this aberration myself. Henbit Dead-nettle is a similar plant to Red Dead-nettle, but has unstalked leaves. Both Dead-nettles are very ancient introductions to this country and are now common and widespread.  


WEDNESDAY APRIL 17 - 2019

Warblington shore
Peter Milinets-Raby was up early for a short walk along the Warblington shore ahead of an incoming tide from 6:24am to 8:19am.
In the Ibis Field were 41 Black-headed Gulls with 3 Med Gulls amongst them, along with singing Chiffchaff and Blackcap and 2 Shelduck were flying around and eventually landed out of sight on the cress beds.
The big field to the west had 2 male and 3 female Pheasant, along with 2 Stock Doves and a Mistle Thrush flew over.
In the hedgerow behind Conigar Point was a singing Cetti's Warbler, a couple of Chiffchaff and a singing Blackcap and in the field behind the point there was a flock of 22 Linnets.
The mini reed bed held a singing Reed Warbler and a calling Reed Bunting.
Conigar Point: 5 Shelduck, 1 Greenshank, 8 Whimbrel circled around a couple of times before heading off east along the channel.
Off Pook Lane I heard a Yellow Wagtail pass over heading inland and out on the mud were 25 summer Plumaged Dunlin, 14 Shelduck, a Black-tailed Godwit and in the channel a Great Crested Grebe and a feeding flock of one male and 7 female Red Breasted Merganser.
At the farm were 2 breeding Pied Wagtails being disturbed by a Sparrowhawk flying over.


EuroBirdPortal viewer
The BTO reports that EuroBirdPortal have just released a live version of their online viewer. The new EuroBirdPortal viewer shows the distribution of 105 bird species on animated maps that are updated daily by adding around 120,000 observations from birdwatchers across the region, including those from BirdTrack. These observations allow a fascinating near real-time view of the movements of birds such as the Swallow and Cuckoo as they arrive in Europe from further south and move north with the progression of spring. Well worth a look.

Go to . . . https://bto-enews.org/IG4-68L07-3RN36S-3K66RQ-0/c.aspx


TUESDAY APRIL 16 - 2019

Godwit ringing
Neil Foster attended an enlightening presentation about Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits given by Jenny Gill (of UEA) at the recent HOS members' day. As Neil says, by now she is probably in Iceland with Pete Potts recording the returning birds! The results of their efforts are marvellous. Having been involved with the Black-tailed Godwit ringing project as a recorder of colour-ringed birds for many years, I fully agree.
As I was not able to attend the HOS Conference, I would like to thank Neil particularly for a link to an excellent online Inaugural Professorial Lecture given by Jenny Gill about her Black-tailed Godwit research. This is simply fascinating research and shows the value of colour-ringing the birds. Jenny's lecture starts at about 12 minutes in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoTx4T1gSx4

Every year, millions of birds undertake extraordinary migrations, crossing oceans and continents around the world. In this talk, Prof Jenny Gill from the UEA School of Biological Sciences explains how tracking individual birds on these journeys allows us to uncover links between different breeding and wintering grounds. She goes on to explore how changing environmental conditions are driving population changes in numerous species, many of which are in sharp decline.

Here are a couple of photos of Pete Potts at work in Iceland from my files . . .

Pete listening for the Godwits as they arrive

and ringing a Black-tailed Godwit watched by keen youngsters

Here are a couple of old friends I recorded in Emsworth Harbour a few years ago


Mining/Carpenter bees
Following our discussion about Mining bees (april 12), I asked Bryan Pinchen about bees in the Pallant Gallery in Chichester where I am a volunteer which come out of the woodwork in the old house each year at this time. They call them carpenter bees. Or are they are mining bees?

Bryan replies . . . Mining bees are the ones that excavate their own nests in the soil, carpenters tend to excavate their own in wood, whereas the ones you speak of are utilising holes created by wood boring beetles, I haven't come across a 'generic' name for these, hence why I always refer to all of them as 'solitary bees', which in my mind eliminates any confusion.

Extra question: How about Mason bees?
from Wikipedia.
This is a name now commonly used for species of bees in the genus Osmia, of the family Megachilidae. Mason bees are named for their habit of using mud or other "masonry" products in constructing their nests, which are made in naturally occurring gaps such as between cracks in stones or other small dark cavities; when available some species preferentially use hollow stems or holes in wood made by wood-boring insects.


 For the previous entries go to . . April 1-15