It was a bit of a successful weekend down on the reserve, with exciting new species found.
The first was on Saturday when, in the middle of an otherwise fairly quiet afternoon we happened to be looking out of the windows and a large bird flew past, being mobbed by gulls. Large, dark, cruciform shape. The initial thought was cormorant. But it looked to be carrying something in its beak. Maybe a twig for nesting? But no, closer examination showed that the long thing *was* the beak, and the bird wasn't a cormorant at all. It was, in fact, a glossy ibis! Normally found down on the Mediterranean, there have been a few dotting about the country. indeed, we've had unconfirmed reports of them flying over. But this was a cast-iron sighting. The bird tried landing in different places on the reserve, but the local gulls always took umbrage and forced it on, until it finally found respite on the wet grassland, amidst the cows.
The ibis was still with us on Sunday, when it was lurking in the reedbed for most of the day. And again on Monday, on the wet grassland, near to the first seat in the hedgerow, just to the west of the centre. I wonder how much longer it'll hang around. There certainly looks to be enough food for it in the wet grassland, which looks in prime condition.
Glossy ibis (photo by Lip Kee Yap)
The second new species for the reserve came on Sunday morning. We'd left a moth trap running overnight, as the overcast and warm conditions were very good for mothing. One of the first moths out of the trap was a little dark thing, with a startlingly red body hidden under black wings, and a blob of red behind the head. This was a bit of a stumper initially, as I'd never seen one before. A quick check of the books and we identified it as a red-necked footman. Normally found in the south-west of the UK, this is a pretty unusual moth for this part of the world, and another first for reserve. It is probably an individual from the continent, as they sometimes do cross the channel.
Red-necked footman (photo by Darius Bauzys)
So all in all, a pretty good weekend. Now, if only the England football team had done as well....
Reedbed, freshwater scrapes, saltmarsh and wet meadow. Frampton Marsh has it all! Come and pay us a visit soon.