Two Hobbies were present in the morning, as well as a Water Rail and up to three Cetti’s Warblers. PS.
Three Greenshank seen on the Slurry Lagoon late afternoon. RW.
Category Archives: Recent wildlife sightings
Pintail – 5th September
A pintail was seen at the lagoons today along with 2 Water Rail, 3 Yellow-legged Gulls and a Wheatear. PS.
Hobby – 31st August
Two Hobbies were briefly seen flying together over the site. Also seen were a Sparrowhawk flying over and four Snipe lurking in the edge of the reeds on the slurry lagoon.
Water Rail – 25th August
A Water Rail was weaving it’s way in and out of the reeds at the back of the Slurry Lagoon mid morning.
Yellow-legged Gulls – 24th August
Three Yellow-legged Gulls and a Great Black-backed Gull were amongst the over 500 Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the Slurry Lagoon this afternoon. In the bushes nearby was a family of Reed Warblers, just out of the nest.
Also seen yesterday on the Slurry Lagoon was the Peruvian Ruddy Duck, just back after a summer’s absence.
Whinchat and Wheatear – 23rd August
A Whinchat and a Wheatear were seen this morning, both on the Deep Pit fence by the Railway Bridge, though not at the same time. Two Hobbies were also seen here. About six Brown Argus were seen around the site and more Long-winged Coneheads, as well as several Migrant Hawkers, Brown Hawkers and a Southern Hawker. The Lower Path had a flock of warblers, containing Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff, plus two Willow Tits.
Hobby – 21st August
A Hobby caused alarm amongst the swallows near the river bridge this morning, while in the deep water pit four Common Terns were mobbing a cormorant which was drying its wings on one of the platforms.
Long-winged Conehead – 19th August
Whilst looking for the Roesel’s Bush Cricket we stumbled across a population of 5 males and 1 female, including a copulating pair, of Long-winged Coneheads. We also found the Roesel’s Bush Cricket nearby.
The stridulation was much higher pitched from the Coneheads. Some members of our party could hear neither cricket, whilst some could only hear the Roesel’s, due to the frequency ranges involved. Younger people tend to hear them more easily than older people.
The Roesel’s was found in E2 whilst the Coneheads were found in E2 and D2 (at the top of the steps).
Image by Jack Dennison
Roesel’s Bush Cricket – 18th August
Rob Woodward found a Roesel’s Bush Cricket in E2, near the top of the steps, today. This is a local species, with a generally southern distribution. Also seen was a Water Rail on the Slurry Lagoon.
Sawfly – 11th August
A Brown Argus was found at the car park end of the Slurry lagoon and the Hobby was seen again, being mobbed by Swallows.
An exciting new find by Marion Bryce was a sawfly, Abia sericea, which has not been recorded in the area before.