The summer holidays are here, as I’m sure you can tell as the visitor centre is full of the sounds of children playing and the thundering of footsteps from the tree house! That doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of wildlife to see though!

It’s not been a bad week for waders; green and common sandpipers have been seen at Pickup, dunlin from Lin Dike and on Main Bay, as well as a few black-tailed godwits on New Flash.

Green sandpiper - Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com)

Last Friday (17 July) three black terns were seen from Lin Dike and over the Moat area.  Black terns are a small tern with an all black head and body and they are seen on passage in the UK. We also had a sighting of a little gull on Monday (20 July) over at Big Hole.  Sticking with gulls, there has been a yellow-legged gull seen this week on Main Bay.

Back at Pickup there is a moorhen and some punky-looking chicks as well as little ringed plover! We’ve also had some more weasel antics and there’s also been a sighting of a fox!

Little ringed plover - Ben Hall (rspb-images.com)

Gatekeepers are definitely the butterfly of the moment; there are absolutely loads to look out for! They’re quite easy to identify, as they are distinctly orange! Yesterday was pretty exciting too, with some amazing views of a hummingbird hawkmoth.

Hummingbird hawkmoth thanks to Chris Mountain