So after all the rain of yesterday it is quite a nice surprise to see the sun shining once more! One thing I would like to mention first off, and I have heard many mention this as they wonder round the reserve, is how early the blackberries are this year! Walking up Cut lane there are loads of blackberries already ripening lovely and black perfect for feeding up all of them young fledglings. We have had so many juvenile tree sparrows by the feeders this year; only yesterday by the visitor centre feeders did we count at least 40 tree sparrows. Tree sparrows can raise up to three broods a year so no wonder there are so many about make sure you’re still keeping your feeders full!
Tree Sparrow - Ray Kennedy (RSPB images)
Pickup hide has been offering many treats over the past couple of weeks including a juvenile water rail spotted last Tuesday in amongst the reeds. Juvenile water rails are made recognisable for their soft brown downy fur instead of the distinguishable grey underneath of the adults, and obviously they have much shorter bills. Eight snipe were also seen at Pickup on Friday, these are fairly common sights for Pickup hide this time of year now because of all the exposed mud scrapes and raised water levels. Curlew have been seen on New Flash this past week, these are the largest UK wading bird with a very long down-curved bill. The bird is named for its whistling ‘curr- lee’ call which mainly signals its courtship but can be enjoyed throughout the year. You’ll definitely know if you’ve heard a curlew!
Curlew – Andy Hay (RSPB images)
Wheatear have been spotted towards the Flashes, I always enjoy these birds as they busily bob over the ground with their pretty grey and yellow markings. Wheatear are summer visitors to the reserve so can be expected to be seen more frequently until September. We’ve had a rare sighting of a clouded yellow butterfly also this week! These butterflies rarely make it to adulthood due to damp and frost which is fatal for much of the population, however due to the good year we have had so far and the lack of frost some of these species have managed succeed in the UK. They can be easily mistaken for common whites as they also have the familiar black dot markings which the common whites also have. The clouded yellow butterfly was sighted at Hicksons flash on Saturday and hopefully more will be seen later into the summer.
Clouded yellow (UK butterflies.co.uk)
There are loads of various caterpillars about this time of year. You can spend quite some time scanning the internet or looking through ID books trying to match the caterpillar with the butterfly or moth species! Walking up the river path we spotted a group of caterpillars huddled together on an Oak tree branch. We managed to ID them as a collection of buff-tip moth caterpillars which are the moths which always manage to look very camouflaged against wooden twigs! These caterpillars are yellow and black striped covered in white fluff. They feed on these deciduous trees before pupating (turning into adulthood) on the ground under the tree. July and August are the most common time to see these amazing caterpillars so keep your eyes peeled!
Buff-tip caterpillars (Heather Watkin)
Buff-tip moth (Emma Cuthbertson)