Hi All

The third brood of kingfishers have hatched, which means increased activity at the nest bank! So you still have time to pop down for a visit. We are looking for fledging around 5 or 6 September and have arranged another early morning kingfisher event for 10 lucky peoplewww.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynatu…/…/events/details.aspx…(kingfisher image by Keith Bedford)

The Rye Meads Ringing Group are also hosting an event, ringing birds on migration www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynatu…/…/events/details.aspx… a great chance to see birds in the hand and you never know what may turn up at this time of year!

The volunteer work party will be undertaking some work on the scrape this Thursday 18 and next Thursday 25, clearing the vegetation that has grown up over the summer. This will provide much better views and clear the islands and muddy edges for all those migrating waders!  We have also bought in 2 of the gull/tern breeding rafts ready to start cleaning and repairing them, with the last raft remaining for a few weeks for any late terns.

Recent sightings include marsh harrier on 10, 2 juvenile water rail have been showing on and off on the Draper scrape since the 6, oystercatcher, snipe have returned to site and still occasional views of garganey.  Raspberry clearwings came to lure on 11 and 13, another jersey tiger this time in the moth trap on 6.