Friday 4th March 2016

More than sand.....

This afternoon I ventured to a part of the reserve that I haven't paid much attention too in the past the Northern edge of the upper marsh.

Its quite interesting out on this part not least because navigating across it needs some thought, a bit of jumping and wellies!!!

One of the creeks which criss cross the marsh

The Reed bed get inundated on a very high tide, as demonstrated by the amount of sea borne rubbish along the edge of the reeds, but is fed by fresh water seepage as demonstrated by the water running off into the creeks (the tide hasn't reached the reeds for a few weeks).

It is here that one of the specialities of the reserve may? be found its a snail about 3mm high one of the "Whorl" snails, Vertigo angustior, there's no photo not because its rare, but because, its VERY RARE and is specially protected.

I suspect that there are Harvest Mice using the reed bed and I'll look into that in the next few weeks. There were clear signs of mammals using the creeks but too far to get decent photo's my guess is Brown Rat, Stoat,  Dog, Fox, and possibly Otter.

Oddly or not?, only one Common Snipe pushed from this side of the marsh.

The Red Kites are still making daily visits to the marsh and dunes, today one of them a female? (very small bird) was feeding on something on a post.

It is clear that nature is stirring on the reserve with Meadow Pipits, and Pied Wagtails, putting in an appearance after an absence in the past weeks.

Thursday 3rd March 2016

Signs of Spring.....

The weather today was a vast improvement on yesterday, which saw wind, rain, sleet and a little snow.

Although a chilly WNW breeze it amounted to very little and the overcast skies cleared to make it feel very nice out of the breeze.

On the beach the recent tides have covered over a lot of the "rubbish" as well as lots and lots of shells, the wind in the past few days has been in a North to North West direction which seems to have been perfect to create "sand sculptures" a few centimetres high; here come the arty photos.

A "strandline Safari" to look for signs of spring revealed a few specialist creatures including a large ground beetle called, the Strand-line Burrower, Broscus cephalotes (see photo) as well as the Sand Hopper Talitrus saltator, (no photo sorry!)

The Strand-line Burrower

On the Dunes themselves the Skylarks were in full song with lots of territorial disputes going on, I hadn't realised how much time they spend singing from fence posts!!!

Skylark ...belting it out

Tuesday 1st March 2016

Metrological Spring....still looking like Winter...

The first day of March, and the first day of the metrological spring, I prefer to wait for the equinox before getting too excited about spring.

What it does mean is that its the day to update things like the tide times and wildlife sightings boards in the information shelter; with that job done a quick look around the reserve turned up a few birds who clearly have spring very much in mind.

Skylarks singing in the rain, Robins, Dunnocks all singing away.

There is quite a decent mixed flock of finches feeding on the Sea Buckthorn berries, they are actually after the hard seed inside the orange flesh.

Greenfinches

A good mix of Greenfinch, Chaffinch and Brambling, along with Blue Tits and Goldcrest these were looking for insects and spiders.

Brambling (heavily cropped photo sorry)

There are still Teal around they favour the deeper creeks to rest in when the marsh is not flooded, I couldn't get a count today but saw a few.