Local News Feeds
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Ooh, it’s the ladies!
With the good weather today I decided to have a look around the Beach Reserve for some spring spiders. I started with a search near Wader Pool hide for more of the rare jumping spider Pellenes tripunctatus and was rewarded with a total of five individuals, including two females, the first I have found here. [...]
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Dragons and damsels
Still not exactly warm, but out of the wind in the sheltered scrubby areas near the viewpoint a good selection of damselflies had gathered. At least 50+ Variable Damselfly, 100+ Blue-tailed Damselfly, 20+ Red-eyed Damselfy and 30+ Azure Damselfly were enjoying the warmth. Hairy Dragonfly and Downy Emerald were also patrolling the nearby bramble bushes. As the season progresses I keep expecting to find a bigger emergence of [...]
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Castle Water
Four Hobby gave a spectacular aerial display hawking insects around the viewpoint area this morning, prey items seemed to be mainly St Mark’s-flies although a Downy Emerald and a few damselflies were also on the menu. In between flights the birds gave great close views while roosting. A selection of pictures are below. (click on read the rest of this entry)
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Rye Harbour
Black-headed Gull chick update first. Over a week old now and spending more time at the waters edge rather than in the nest, food still coming in and the regurgitated meal this morning was unidentifiable and looked revolting but Iam sure was pukka tukka for a growing chick. (see picture below)
Additional avian highlights over the past few days have [...]
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Red Ridges
The old shingle ridges around Camber Castle have turned crimson as the flowers of sheep sorrel have come into bloom. Like many other plants it seems to have enjoyed the cool wet spring. Find out more about the plant by clicking here and for a close up…
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Hemlock
In the RX area there are many members of the carrot or umbellifer family, from the tiny marsh pennywort to the 2 metre tall hemlock. Now is the time that they are growing rapidly. Hemlock is widespread along the coast and is one of the poisonous species -famously used to kill Socrates - find out [...]
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More on the downy’s
A search for more signs of Downy Emerald emergence today revealed 8 exuviae and one adult at the point of taking its maiden flight. Trying to find all the exuvia can be a challenge, especially when its only a few spindley legs grasping a sprouting common reed stem showing, as shown in the third picture below.
On the [...]
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Poor Fen
Not a term of commiseration, or criticism, but the name for one of the scarcest habitats in the RX region.
The poor fen communities in the Cladium Pit at Dungeness RSPB reserve are bursting into life at the moment
