Mersehead Recent Sightings 26th August - 1st September
September has arrived and signs of autumn are appearing. The nights are noticeably drawing in, the woodland is turning golden and birds are flocking together. In September, we start conducting the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) again after a break during the breeding season. This monitoring scheme for non-breeding waterbirds in the UK aims to assess the size of species populations, determine trends in their numbers and assess the importance of individual sites informing the conservation of species and habitats. Ahead of the first survey next week, a trip up to the cliff top viewpoint found good numbers of waders already congregating at high tide with 620 Oystercatcher, 223 Curlew, 1 Knot and 1 Whimbrel recorded. Five species of gull were present; 245 Common Gull, 393 Black-headed Gull, 15 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 7 Great Black-backed Gull and 8 Herring Gull.
Mersehead Woodland (Photo Credit: Lyn Warwick)
We also count the high tide roost which forms off the eastern side of the reserve looking towards Southerness Lighthouse where there tends to be a higher diversity of waders present. The count earlier this week found 730 Oystercatcher, 159 Sanderling, 306 Ringed Plover, 85 Curlew, 269 Dunlin, 7 Redshank and 1 Bar-tailed Godwit. Some sea watching in this area also noted 40 Sandwich Tern through on autumn passage with 10 Common Scoter and 1 Guillemot bobbing on the sea.
Ringed Plover (Photo Credit: Andy Hay)
The Common Knapweed in the species rich grassland is starting to set seed and the Goldfinch are taking full advantage of this banquet with a flock of 60 birds seen in this area every day. A female Marsh Harrier was spotted hunting small mammals over the oats yesterday and a fairly late Reed Warbler was noted along the back of the reedbed. Two Wheatear were reported on the beach earlier this week and seen again yesterday morning. Did you know that there are four subspecies of the northern wheatear? Our wheatear, Oenanthe oenanthe, has usually left Britain by the end of August. However the "Greenland" wheatear, Oenanthe leucorhoa, only leave their breeding grounds across the Arctic tundra of Greenland and northern Canada in August and so reach us in September and even as late as October before continuing onto Africa. The latest sighting of wheatear in Dumfries and Galloway was in 1990 when one was sighted on 27th November.
Goldfinch (Photo Credit: John Bridges)
Last Saturday we put the moth trap out in the reedbed and caught 18 species, the most notably being the Small Rufous. This species was first recorded in Scotland a few miles down the coast at Auchencairn Bay on 26th August 2011. Six years later to the day and we have caught the second verified record for Dumfries and Galloway (and Scotland). This moth has one generation flying throughout July and August in fens, marshes and poorly drained pastures and bogs. The larvae overwinter inside the stem of jointed rush, sharp-flowered rush and soft rush before pupating low down in an old stem.
Small Rufous (Photo Credit: Alison Robertson)
Bulrush Wainscot (Photo Credit: R.Flavelle)
The reedbed moth trap also caught 2 Flounced Rustic, 1 Setaceous Hebrew Character, 1 Centre-barred Swallow, 17 Small Square-spot, 6 Small Wainscot, 1 Antler Moth, 7 Crescent, 10 Square-spot Rustic, 1 Gold Spot, 1 Brown-spot Pinion, 2 Oblique Carpet, 1 Flame Shoulder, 1 Ruby Tiger, 1 Smoky Wainscot, 2 Bulrush Wainscot, 2 Dark Arches and 1 Flame Carpet.
Rowena Flavelle, Mersehead Warden