Tuesday 14 February 2023

Tuesday 14th February

A visit on the dropping tide saw just 470 Dunlin feeding on the mudflats, the remainder having already departed to feeding areas further upriver, also present the two immature Spoonbill, 182 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 84 Common Gull, 47 Teal, 37 Wigeon, two Avocet and a Greenshank.

Elsewhere the two Eider and a Red-throated Diver were offshore and seven Shoveler were on the Main Pond.

Wildlife News: The rise in temperature together with a sunny afternoon prompted an increase in insect activity with two very early solitary bees - a Yellow-legged Mining Bee Andrena flavipes and a Furry-claspered Furrow Bee Lasioglossum lativentre sharing the one and only Dandelion in flower at Langstone Rock. February records are not unprecedented and are increasing as the climate changes. 

Yellow-legged Mining Bee - Alan Keatley

Other species emerging for the first time this year included 24-spot Ladybird, the ground bug Peritrechus geniculatus, Lined Froghopper Neophilaenus lineatus and the weevil Trichosirocalus troglodytes.

Lined Froghopper - Alan Keatley

Trichosirocalus troglodytes - Alan Keatley

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