We had Wader Wednesday last week, but I’m going to name the whole of this week Warbler Week because we’ve had so many! Willow warblers, grasshopper warblers, chiffchaff, blackcap, sedge warblers, Cetti’s warblers and whitethroat all... well... warbling to their heart’s content.
Willow warbler. Credit to John Bridges (rspb-images.com)
The coot chicks have been entertaining families while they pond dip this week. There have been some great views of their brightly coloured, punky hair-dos. It’s a coot’s feet I love the most though; lurid blue and yellow with big flat lobes that look like their feet have been run over with something heavy.
A cuckoo has been heard a couple of times during the week and also yellow wagtails (up to three seen at a time) in the past few days. A ruddy shelduck has been causing some interest too, mainly on the flashes but flying over the visitor centre too.
Yellow wagtail thanks to Andy Hay (rspb-images.com).
There have been plenty of bumbling Bombus sp. seen this week. If you’d like to find out more about different species of bees, and other insects and beasties, come along to our Minibeast Safari events. Our volunteers Alan and Amanda are a mine of information and the next one is on the 3rd May. See www.rspb.org.uk/events for more information.
The blue tit who had us all fascinated by his week spent "digging" at the bottom of the nest box on the nest box camera in the visitor centre, has started to nest! So all that energy spent preparing the box was clearly worth it and its now bringing in lots of moss to line the bottom. It's pretty active so definitely worth looking out for if you're in the visitor centre this week.
And finally, if you watched Springwatch over Easter, they have asked for the public to record their first spring sightings of five species. One of those species is the orange tip butterfly and we’ve had our first sightings of them this week, fluttering past and feeding on flowers.
Orange tip butterfly. Photo thanks to Tom Marshall (rspb-images.com)