Hi everyone,

Sorry I haven't updated in a little while - it's the Easter holidays so we've been busy with childrens activities (more about that later)...

But I had to tell you the exciting news...

 

We just saw a change over at the kingfisher bank!

This means that they are sitting on eggs!
Woohoo!

The male and female kingfisher both incubate the eggs, so a change over is when they sway, allowing one to…

Hi everyone,

How are you?

So I'll start with a kingfisher update as thats what everyone wants to know about! The kingfishers are currently 'doing their thing'... The pair are currently courting, we've had lovely views of the male bringing fish for the female (the kingfisher equivalent of flowers and choccys). So, keep your eyes pealed! I'll keep you updated!

The barn owls are still about, keep an…

Hello everyone,

Welcome to the next installment of the murals in the hides! Today this is all about the Kingfisher hide!  We get a lot of comments about the murals (who painted them etc), and a while ago I came across the original information about the murals, so I thought I would start a little series...
 
A while ago I came across the original information about the murals, so I thought I would start a little series as we…

Hi everyone,

Here is what has been seen around the reserve through March:

 

Visitor Centre: blue tit, great tit, robin, blackbird, dunnock, chaffinch, greenfinch, pheasant, pigeon, great spotted woodpecker, mallard, peregrine (6 March), sparrowhawk (18 March), fox, rabbit, and brimstone butterfly.

 

 

 

Draper hide: green sandpiper, snipe, redshank (11 and 24 March), lapwing, little ringed plover, teal, gadwall…

Hi everyone,

One of our usual breeding birds is the kestrel. We get great views of these fabulous birds of prey as they usually breed in one of the boxes that we have onsite - either on the pylon at the Kingfisher hide, by the car park, or maybe even in one of the owl boxes seen from the Draper hide.

We've had some lovely views of the male... but not so many of the female!
As you wander round please do let us know…

Hi everyone,

Since the blog post yesterday we saw the kingfishers doing their thing...

 Brilliant picture from Malcolm Housden taken last year of the male giving the female a fish.

The male was seen handing over a fish to the female (our equivalent of chocolates and flowers), and they were seen mating too!

It's looking good!

:)

Hi everyone,

How are you?

I thought I would give you a bit of an update about the wildlife that is around at the moment!

 

 Kingfisher picture by Peter Hewitt

We'll start with kingfishers...
To be honest we aren't sure quite what they are doing! We've been getting brilliant views of the kingfisher, although it tends to be the male. The pair have been seen courting recently, although they haven't been doing their…

Today's Barn Owl Watch didn't go so well...

The barn owls didn't come out until 10 minutes after everyone had left! Oops!

 

 

Next week (Sunday 1 April) we are going to have another Barn Owl Watch from 5-8.15 pm.
The reserve will be open to walk round until 7pm, and then after 7pm only the Draper and Lapwing hides (and the Visitor Centre) will be open. The barn owls will come out at dusk which will be approximately…

Hi everyone,

 

The garden at the front of the visitor centre is looking really lovely at the moment so I thought I would share some pictures with you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the early flowering plants are out in bloom and looking lovely:

 

The primroses look stunning.

 

 

 

 

 

As does the crocus'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were very excited to see the first of the snakes head fritillerys! They are the UK's only…

Hi everyone,

How are you this morning?

 

I thought I would let you know some of the highlights from yesterday -

We had great views of little gull from the Tern hide.

Little gulls are a small, dainty gull. Adults in summer have black heads, while young birds have a black mark on each wing which forms a 'W' pattern. In flight adults show a pale grey upperwing, with no black wingtips, and a very dark grey underwing.…

Hi everyone,

How are you?

I went for a walk on the reserve earlier so I thought I would let you know what I saw today:

 

Trails
Peacock butterfly, comma butterfly, bees, wasps, fox, greenfinch, chaffinch, great tit, blue tit, robin, blackbird, chiffchaff, cettis warber, moorhen, black headed gull, and grey heron.

 

 

Draper hide
Mute swan, teal, gadwall, mallard, tufted duck, pochard, shoveler, coot, moorhen, little…

 

My silly poster aside - we really would like to know if you have seen the female kingfisher!

We started to get a little worried about the pair - only the male had been seen and he was acting as if he didn't have a lady friend (we had started to worry that the female had gone, or had been caught by a predator).

Today people have been seeing her (*phew*) but do let us know if you see the female/ the pair, when and…

Afternoon all,

How are you? Are you enjoying your weekend?

 

I just wanted to give you all a quick reminder about tomorrows Barn Owl Watch. The Lapwing and Draper hides will be staying open until 6.30 pm (the reserve opens as usual at 10am, and the rest of the reserve will be closing at 5 pm) to try and spot these amazing creatures!

You don't have to book, so just turn up or come eariler in the day and make a day…

There is a little egret over at the Draper hide!

It's nice to see, we don't see them that often!

 

 

Little egret info:
Little egrets are a lovely small white heron with yellow feet. They have lovely plumes of feathers on their neck/ head, back and chest.
They are now found on numerous south coast sites as a breeding species and a wintering species. Little egrets are listed as Amber list as a rare breeding specie…

Afternoon everyone!

How are you?

After the fog of this morning this afternoon is really lovely!

I thought I would give you some of the highlights of the day (so far)... There's been some lovely views of the kingfishers over at the Kingfisher hide, along with a bittern that has been seen in the reedbed at the back of the water behind the cctv camera. A green sandpiper has been spotted over at the Draper hide, along…

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Don't let economic recovery come at the expense of the environment.

Help us turn George Osborne's dream into reality. E-mail the Chancellor and urge him to use his Budget statement on 21 March 2012 to put the environment…

Hi everyone!

How are you today?

I know it's already half way through March, but I here are the sightings for February:

Visitor centre
Goldfinch, green finch, chaffinch, bullfinch, blue tit, great tit, dunnock, wren, blackbird, mistle thrush, redwing, gold crest, magpie, great spotted woodpecker, moorhen, pheasant, kestrel, sparrowhawk, peregrine (2/2), red kite, fix, muntjac, mole and weasel.

 

 

Draper hide
Coot…

I'm back! Did you miss me? I've been on holiday for a week but all will be back to normal from Monday!

So, tonight is one of our Barn Owl Watches!

So far one of the pair has been sitting in a tree since about 4.30 pm! Great stuff!

 Next weekend, on Sunday 18 March, the Draper and Lapwing hides will be staying open until 6.30 pm so we can try and get a lovely view of the barn owls! Don't miss out!

   Picture…

 Afternoon!

We've stayed open until 6.30 pm for a couple of days, to try and spot the barn owls, and we've been asked to run some more! No guarantees we'll spot these amazing creatures!

So I am delighted to announce that the Draper and Lapwing hides will be open until 6.30 pm on Sunday 4 March, Saturday 10 March, and Sunday 18 March until 6.30 pm. The reserve will open at 10 am as usual and will be closing…

Good morning,

I hope you are well. Just a quick blog to say that we've spotted the bittern this morning so eyes pealed!

It was spotted over at the Kingfisher hide, then flew over towards the Draper hide. It has been liking the reebed at the Draper hide this season so it might have landed there... Very exciting!

Hello again!

You may know that we have a couple of barn owls onsite!

We've stayed open until 6.30 pm over the past three Sunday's (well the Draper and Lapwing hides are open the rest of the reserve is closed), with the hope that we will see these stunning birds.

It's very exciting for us as this is the first time barn owls have used (or even been any where near) the barn owl boxes.
Two or three years ago…

Hi all,

How are you all today?

Have you had a look at the blog that I wrote earlier today - the great grey shrike was about again on Saturday! There are some nice pictures, check it out!

Today we've had some lovely views of the kingfisher. The male has been abbout, sitting on the posts. The pair have been seen flirting, they are at the beginning of their courtship - possibly a little earlier than usual, but fingers…

Hi everyone.

You may have seen Joan's blog post about the great grey shrike on Saturday 27 February.

Well I have some pictures that I thought you might like to see, but I will start from the beginning of the story....

 

So on Saturday 18 February we spotted a grey grey shrike on the reserve on the main track between the Ashby and Lagoon hide. It was a bit flighty and moved about a bit. This was very exciting for…

The Rye Meads Ringing Group caught the great grey shrike today at about 11am. What a stunning bird and such a treat to see in the hand! It's now been released and is currently sitting in the tree outside the Lapwing Hide. Hopefully it will stick around for a while.

Joan Childs, site manager

A bittern has been seen flying round the Draper this morning! Great news, we haven't seen a bittern since the snow!

The kingfishers have been showing off this morning as well!
 Fab picture by Brenda Clayton! Brenda took this picture on Tuesday of the male at the kingfisher bank. The pair have started having a look at the bank! Fingers crossed everyone!Brenda is a volunteer over at Rainham - check out Rainham's blog…