Mersehead Recent Sightings 12th - 18th August
An eventful morning was had looking out from the visitor centre window on Saturday morning. The first sighting of the morning was of a peregrine falcon, although at a distance, through the telescope we could clearly see and distinguish its unmistakable grey hood, as it sat at the top of one of the taller trees down rainbow lane. Soon after, as our eyes focused back on what was immediately in front of us, we noticed a young weasel gingerly completing a couple of circuits around the garden, before disappearing into the longer grass. A bold young white throat appeared and spent a good while exploring under the feeders, allowing us time to observe closely this usually elusive bird.
White throat, on path in front of visitor center window viewing window. Photo Credit; Jon Foot
Sunday promised to be a glorious day, and we weren’t disappointed. Butterflies & dragon flies were out in abundance, basking in the sunshine without being buffeted by the stronger breezes we have been experiencing. The common darter dragonfly can be seen along the tracks, ‘darting’ back and forth. Both the male & female begin life being yellowish brown in colour, however as the male matures, his body turns orangey red. You can also black dots on the edge of their wings. The female will stay mostly yellowish brown, however can sometimes develop red markings along the segment boundaries of her body.
common darter. Photo Credit: Jon Foot
Later in the day, as the tide steadily came in, out on the edge of the saltmarsh, where Southwick water meets the Firth, a little egret was seen patrolling the river bank. Approximately one hour before high tide, a flock of over 500 oyster catcher, along with over 200 gulls, flew in and came to rest on the sand flats at the mouth of the river.
It’s a great time of year for looking around old logs and wood piles. We have seen common lizards sunbathing, and if you take a closer look you may get the chance to observe the smaller creatures. We observed a red legged shield bug in the Sulwath garden. Eggs are laid around this time of year, within the bark of deciduous trees, mainly oak, where the hatched larvae can then feed on the sap of the tree. Adult shield bugs are 11 - 15mm in length, seen from July through to November can also be predatory, feeding on other insects, caterpillars as well as fruits.
Red legged shield bug. Photo Credit: Jon Foot
Although the sun was shining, and the temperature warm, the breeze was quite strong during our weekly butterfly survey, however we did see, 22 green veined white, 4 red admiral, 3 peacock, 3 painted lady, 12 wall brown, 1 meadow brown and 2 small copper.
We are still seeing natterjack toad tadpoles at various stages of development, this week whilst observing the pools we saw at least 30 toadlets in the vegetation adjacent to the pools, ranging from 1 to 3 centimetres in length.
Natterjack toadlett. Photo Credit: Guy Border
Jon Foot, Residential Volunteer