We’ve been able to enjoy another nice spell of weather the last couple of days which has meant there were lots of butterflies about basking in the sunshine. Our buddleia outside the visitor centre had heaps of small tortoiseshells on it, along with peacocks, commas, red admirals and the odd painted lady.
The Temminck’s stint was still around on Spoonbill Flash at the beginning of the week amongst a host of other waders including black-tailed godwits, greenshanks, green sandpipers, ringed plovers and a juvenile ruff. Three curlew sandpipers were reported on this part of the reserve yesterday as well.
Four spotted flycatchers were seen at Pick-up hide by our ranger volunteers on Tuesday! Also in this area there have been common sandpipers, lapwings, grey herons and a willow tit. We’ve had a pair of late nesting sand martins in our sand martin bank, and visitors have been able to watch the chicks being fed. Pick-up hide has also been the best spot for birds of prey this week including a red kite, a sparrowhawk and a marsh harrier.
Pairs of great crested grebes and common terns are about on Village Bay, and the kingfisher has been seen from Charlie’s hide as well as at the Kingfisher Screen. The bittern also continues to be seen flying over the Flashes.
Dragonflies can still be seen when the sun comes out such as darters and hawkers, and damselflies too. You'll probably start noticing less bumblebees about as we head towards the end of summer and those that remain are likely to be the new queens. As the summer season progresses, nests start producing new queens and males instead of worker bees. The male bees will leave the nest to feed on nectar and try to mate, although most don’t succeed. The new queens will mate soon after leaving the nest and then feed heavily on nectar and pollen to fatten themselves up for the hibernation period. These new queens hibernate underground and are the only ones who survive until the following spring as the old queen and her nest naturally come to an end.