March is upon us and the days are starting to appear more spring like, however, we’ve just had some sleet at Arne! Snow is pretty unusual at Arne so sleet is just as exciting for us here. Bit sad really...
So on with some sightings. Some winter visitors have already departed with other species starting to make an appearance. The most notable disappearance is the avocets which seem to have mostly left. Spoonbills are also getting scarcer with just 4 regularly seen this week in middlebeare where a Spotted Redshank was also seen on Tuesday. Brent Geese are still numerous but get here quick before they head back to Russia.
Two species which have been making regular appearances are Crossbill and Woodlark which was first seen on Sunday. Woodlarks get back on their territories very early in the spring and they can be heard singing from now until well into the spring. Crossbills start breeding even earlier with fledged chicks now likely to be around. They actually nest through January and February which is unusual for most species let alone a small finch. However, their main source of food, pine seeds, is most abundant during the winter so actually it makes good sense to nest during this time. We’ve been seeing them daily flying over the car park making their distinctive ‘glip glip’ calls but if you’re really lucky you might encounter one taking a drink from a puddle. It’s thirsty work eating lots of pine seeds!
Male Crossbill - Luke Phillips
Dartford Warblers are getting more visible and audible across the heaths. Over the next few weeks they’ll be joined by Meadow Pipits, Linnets and Stonechats. All of which will be returning to breed on the heaths. It also won’t be long before we’ll be keeping our eyes open for migrant species returning from Africa. The first back are usually Sand Martin and Wheatear with the latter being more likely at Arne. Be sure to keep an eye on twitter ( www.twitter.com/@rspbarne ) for the latest migration news.
There are some exciting events coming up. Most notable will be the opening of our new Shop and Cafe. All is on course for opening just before Easter! There will be more on that very soon. But we’ve also got our ever popular ‘History of Arne’ walks. These will be quite difference from our normal guided walks and will focus on Arne’s human history. We’ll explore the WW2 gun emplacement, bronze aged burial mound and check out where the Vikings landed over a thousand years ago! All this in the space of 2 hours. Meet us at 10am at the visitor hut on either Monday 7th or 14th March. Walks are free but there will be a chance to give a donation at the end.
http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/seenature/events/details.aspx?id=tcm:9-389221
A group enjoying the Gun Emplacement back last summer (hence the shorts!!).