Sightings blogs have been a bit thin on the ground recently, apologies for that! We’re back in the swing of things after our Big Wild Sleepout and I’ve got lots to tell you about.
There’ve been lots of different waders to be found at the minute especially over the Flashes. Look out for green sandpiper, common sandpiper, curlew and dunlin. There’s also been a few black-tailed godwits knocking about, and there’s been snipe and ruff in recent weeks as well.
Little egrets have been a regular feature so far this month and have provided us with some great views as they’re been flying over the visitor centre. We also had a great white egret pay us a quick visit last weekend!
Little egret - Paul Chesterfield (rspb-images.com)
It’s been a lovely few weeks for raptor fans with regular sightings of peregrines, marsh harriers and red kites. We’ve also had buzzard, hobby, kestrel and sparrow hawk and even an osprey was seen flying over on the 19th.
Osprey - Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com)
Head over to Cut Lane and Charlie’s Hide if its kingfisher’s you’re after, they’ve been spotted down there a few times.
We had a spotted flycatcher ‘spotted’ on the 15th (sorry...couldn’t resist) – don’t be fooled by their dull brownish colouring because they’re anything but dull! Spotted flycatchers dash from their perch to catch their dinner before returning to the same spot. Other notable sightings include whinchat, wheatear and linnet all seen over the flashes or from Lin Dike.
One of the more unusual sightings in the book from the past few weeks was “red tailed bumble bee nest dug out by badgers”. That was the day before Big Wild Sleepout so campers on the guided walks were lucky enough to see it and one of our volunteers Liberty managed to get a photo!
Badgers dug up this bumble bee nest! Photo thanks to Liberty Monkman
August has certainly been a busy month so far, let’s see what the rest of the month will bring!