David Ware was also in today and got some great pics of both the frogs and sedge warblers here.
Also at the same location is great damage to the emergent reeds from water voles - an excellent sign.
As for other bird news – the wood sand reported last week was apparently chased off immediately by one of the six little ringed plovers seen today. A cracking count was made of 27 yellow wagtails on D res wall this week and I forgot to post last time the whimbrel which also dropped in at Watton – another year first. More showy was a greenshank which was present on the pits too. Snipe has also been reported on the freshly cleared South Marsh West reed island – one to watch – as with the hobby which has been seen regularly in the last few days.
The monthly walk this morning took in the usual candidates – reed bunting:
Reed warbler: (Late edit - sorry this is clearly a willow warbler which snuck into a series of pics of a reed warbler I took - that's what you get when you write blogs at 11.30pm!)
Common whitethroat:
And an LRP doing its best to control the flies on the res. wall.:
Martin will no doubt have blog updates here – with new another potential new micro for site.
Other bugs and beasties found in the week include click beetle:
These we consider are nettle weevils Phyllobus pomaceus:
With the smaller Polydrusus sp.:
This is something the Tophill volunteers are delving into whilst the trees can’t be chopped down! So as we are on a steep learning curve we apologise for any mis-ID’s we will inevitably get – as with the last post where our scorpion fly was actually Ptychoptera contaminata – a form of crane fly – thanks to Doug on that one!
Finally we have the see a… grass snake event coming up this Sunday the 15th at 9am – book in advance as usual on 01377 270690 – a chance to go ‘off piste’ looking in some of the grasslands for them.
Also on Sunday will be the first of our new twice yearly open meetings at the wildlife centre – I will be giving a quick talk about the projects we are currently working on, with updates on Sgt Major wood, wildlife centres and all the rest for anyone who is interested – 2pm with teas and coffees – all welcome.
