We’ve had a lovely juvenile great spotted woodpecker on the peanut feeder in our wildlife garden today which everyone was pleased to see. Other visitors to the feeders include a nuthatch, goldfinches, greenfinches and loads of young tree sparrows.
Down at Pick-up hide there have been sightings of a jay, a grey wagtail, a roe deer and sand martins using the sand martin bank which is great news!
On Main Bay we’ve had a little ringed plover, great crested grebes and oystercatchers, whilst avocets and common terns have been seen on the islands. Along the Riverside Trail, a yellowhammer and juvenile pied wagtails were also seen.
Elsewhere on the reserve there are lots of different warblers such as blackcaps, garden warblers and willow warblers. At the Kingfisher screen there have not only been kingfisher sightings but also a fox, and a spotted flycatcher was seen nearby.
Lots of common blue butterflies are about, along with large skippers, speckled woods, and meadow browns have also emerged now. There are lots of damselflies around including the banded demoiselle and one of our volunteers counted 29 four spotted chaser dragonflies last week and 4 black-tailed skimmers!
We discovered a great variety of moths in our moth trap yesterday. We had three different hawk moths; an eyed, an elephant and a small elephant. The elephant hawk moth is bigger and they have different markings as shown in these photos. Both are beautiful though!
Elephant hawk moth Small elephant hawk moth
We also had a brimstone moth, a burnished brass, a cinnabar, a riband wave, lots of heart and darts and many more!
Although our reserve is home to lots of wildlife, many native species are in serious trouble. The RSPB launched its Giving Nature a Home campaign this week, and we need your help to build one million homes for wildlife in the UK. There are loads of ways you can help give nature a home in your own garden or community so please get involved at www.rspb.org.uk/homes. It’s up to all of us to help save the UK’s threatened wildlife!
Image of Elephant hawk moth from Gordon Langsbury RSPB images.
Image of small elephant hawk moth from Alan Kelly.