It would appear that the general consensus amongst regular visitors, to Worth RSPB Res, is that the early season weather (blasting easterlies) and lack of management of the water levels out on the marsh (The EA haven't granted the RSPB a licence to control the level of free standing water on this land?) has resulted in no Redshank, Avocet, Little Ringed Plover or Lapwing chicks being reported on the reserve! A pretty sorry state of affairs for this very popular area of the East Kent marshes.. With this as the background, it was rather surprising when Bruno and I were subjected to a very vocal, aeriel display, by a rather agitated individual, on Sunday morning. A second bird was present, but remained on the deck for the majority of the time, yet was also vocal. Everything about the encounter suggested that this pair were protecting young, but due to the trackside vegetation, I was unable to confirm this theory. Whatever the truth, there was no repeat performance when we returned on Tuesday.
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| It came within 10m of our position regularly as it offered its' vocal protest. |
The garden moth trap continues to provide interest and it is quite nice to be able to compare some of the captures with those of Sandwich Obs and the Folkestone Birds gang via the wonders of the internet. Still no signs of any migration on a large scale, although odd individuals do show up suggesting some cross channel movements.
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| White Satin Moth |
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| Scarce Silver-lines - one, of two, from Tuesday night |
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| Lunar-spotted Pinion |
I've had to get another four Nicotiana plants started because those already in flower are looking magnificent, yet will probably be well past their best come August/September when the Convolvulus Hawks arrive? Bruno and I took a wander over on Minster Marshes this morning, just for a change of scenery. It wasn't a bad decision as I located two singing male Yellowhammers in areas that I'd not heard them previously. My real desire was to get an image of a Marbled White butterfly and, after some fannying about, it came to fruition.
A Cinnabar moth caterpillar was spotted feeding on Ragwort, thus providing me something else to point the camera towards, before we headed back home.
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