Mersehead Recent Sightings 10th – 16th June
With prevailing wet and windy weather preventing planned survey work being completed last week, we were up bright and early for a 5:30am start on Wednesday to survey Kirkconnell Merse in the third and final breeding wader survey. This last survey proved to be the best so far for displaying Curlew with their distinctive bubbling song vibrating across the merse. The Eurasian curlew will return to the same nesting site each year and remains faithful to its mate. The male flies low over the merse, climbs steeply and briefly hovers before gliding down in a graceful arc; this display flight marks the birds territory and strengthens the bond with its mate. Redshank and Oystercatcher also breed in good numbers at Kirkconnell Merse. A memorable moment of the survey was the sight of 6 tiny piebald fluffballs scurrying down the side of the creek and skidding to a stop at the edge of the water before the one at the rear comically knocked the others in, like a set of falling dominoes - Shelduck ducklings.
Eurasian Curlew (Photo credit: Andy Hay)
A low catch in the moth trap this week with only 2 White Ermine, 1 Heart & Dart, 1 Snout, 1 Flame and 1 Marbled Brown recorded. It is the first record of snout down at Mersehead this year; with its larval food plant being common nettle the snout is a common and well distributed moth throughout the majority of the British Isles.
Botany group inspecting Greater Tussock Sedge (Photo credit: Lana Blakely)
The Kirkcudbrightshire Botany Group came down to Mersehead this week and we spent an enjoyable 6 hours surveying a section of the new land purchased just before Christmas. A few highlights were Marsh Cinquefoil, a plant which grows in damp habitats such as bogs, fens and marshes. The flower is quite unusual as the narrow magenta petals are shorter than the broad dark red sepals creating the appearance of two five-pointed stars set against each other. Found along the edge of the sand dunes, the Isle of Man Cabbage is endemic to the British Isles and as a nationally scarce species it is listed on schedule 7 of the Wildlife Act 1990 because of its rarity and vulnerability to disturbance. Also found along the dune front was a single Viper's-bugloss and several Goat's Beard. Alternatively known as 'Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon', goat's beard has a large vibrant yellow flower on sunny mornings however the flower quickly disappears at midday, hidden within long bracts resulting in this relatively large plant easily going by unnoticed. Heath Speedwell, Sea Mouse-ear, Sneezewort, Devil's-bit Scabious and Greater Bird's-foot Trefoil names a few more but with so many species recorded including some grasses, sedges and rushes, such as Toad Rush and Carnation Sedge there are too many to name them all.
Marsh Cinquefoil (Photo credit: Lana Blakely)
Goat's Beard (Photo credit: Lana Blakely)
The recent damper weather has sent the natterjack toads off again with their resounding chorus heard from the farmhouse whilst still fully light at 7:30pm. Several weeks have gone by since we last discovered any natterjack toad spawn but this week 3 new strings were recorded which brings this year's total up to 72. A common lizard has been photographed by a visitor to the reserve this week and sightings of tree bumblebee have been reported to the Visitor Centre. The tree bumblebee is common across mainland Europe and spread across the Channel to The British Isles during the start of the 21st Century, slowly making its way further north. In 2013, the first confirmed record was reported in Dumfries and Galloway, with the first confirmed sighting on Mersehead recorded last year.
Rowena Flavelle, Mersehead Warden