Saturday 1 April 2023

Saturday 1st April

A small arrival of migrants overnight included the first Blackcap of the year singing in the Entrance Bushes with 10 Chiffchaff, two Willow Warbler and two Wheatear on site with a Swallow through and also moving overhead, a Red Kite and a Buzzard.

Elsewhere 50 Kittiwake, six Great Crested Grebe and three Red-throated Diver were offshore with 13 Sandwich Tern in the estuary along with four Dark and two Pale-bellied Brent Geese, two Red-breasted Merganser and two Greenshank.

Wildlife News: During the morning the first Common Carder Bee of the year was on the wing and there was a good showing of Sand Crocus in the Greenland Lake and behind the Visitor Centre, with a dry week coming up, it would be an opportune time for anyone to see them.

Common Carder Bee - Alan Keatley

Sand Crocus (when cloudy) - Kevin Rylands

Other invertebrates included at least a couple dozen stranded beetles at the base of the geotubes, including the dung beetles Aphodius fimetarius and A. prodromus, the former first recorded on the Warren last week, Dune Scarab Aegialia arenaria and the darkling beetle Phylan gibbus.

Aphodius fimetarius - Alan Keatley 

Phylan gibbus - Alan Keatley

Elsewhere several patches of the scarce dog-lichen Peltigera neckeri were found on the Dune Ridge and the Mussel Scale Lepidosaphes ulmi was found on apple twigs, another new species for the Recording Area.

Mussel Scale - Kevin Rylands

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