Monday 14th April

Counts from the estuary on the receding morning tide included 330 Oystercatcher, 32 Pale and eight Dark -bellied Brent Geese, 27 Bar-tailed Godwit, 15 Whimbrel, eight Dunlin, seven Sanderling and four Grey Plover. Looking the other way 26 Sandwich Tern, two Eider and a Great Northern Diver were offshore.

Migrants included a Wheatear, three Whitethroat, single Reed and Willow Warbler by the Main Pond with Blackcap and Chiffchaff proclaiming territories in the wooded areas. 

Other Wildlife: Due to a chilly morning ,there wasn't much in the way of flying insects, although the hoverfly Common Twist-tail Sphaerophoria scripta on Cuckoo-flower was the first of the year, with several species of beetle found in the woods and the sand dunes.

Common Twist-tail Sphaerophoria scripta - Alan Keatley

In the woodland habitat were the ground beetles Dromius meridionalis, Great Blackclock Pterostichus niger and the willow beetle Crepidodera fulvicornis.

Great Blackclock Pterostichus niger - Alan Keatley

Dromius meridionalis - Alan Keatley

In the dunes were the rove beetle Philonthus cognatus, the ground beetles Calathus mollis and Harpalus anxius and a shining flower beetle Olibrus affinis.

Harpalus anxius - Alan Keatley

Philonthus cognatus - Alan Keatley Note yellow on the underside of the first antennae segment

Flowering Green-winged Orchid were on Warren Point and near the north end of Dead Dolphin Wood.

Green -winged Orchid - Alan Keatley