It is a beautiful autumn day today, with clear blue skies, sunshine and a heavy dew early on. The event this morning with the Rye Meads Ringing Group was well attended and everyone was rewarded with lovely sightings in the hand of a variety of warblers including sedge, reed, blackcap, lesser whitethroat, and chiffchaff, plus coot with its fabulous feet, robin, dunnock and great tit.
Chiffchaff
The final brood of kingfishers fledged a bit surreptitiously either Thursday evening or Friday before we opened, during Friday the male came back with fish a few times but after checking the burrow he left with the fish again, a classic sign of fledging and making sure they have not left a juvenile behind.
Another sure sign of autumn are eclipse ducks and Friday we had eclipse pintail, garganey and 2 wigeon, a good test of your id skills.
Coot
Common sandpiper continues on Draper scrape along with varying number of green sandpiper, passage of house martin and swallow, a hobby was hawking over the meadow this morning and a peregrine was perched on the pylon Thursday.
The wasp spider remains on site and very showy, drawing lots of interested spotters. Weasel and stoat are both being seen occasionally and we think a stoat has taken up residence in mini beast metropolis.