Warm, cloudy, NW 2 - This morning`s Ted walk took us first to Dengemarsh where there was plenty of activity from volunteers strimming the fence around hayfield 3 and farmers moving cattle into hayfield 1 via Springfield Bridge. From the hide four Great White Egrets were present along with three Grey Herons and the usual variety of diving ducks, grebes, Coots, Cormorants and gulls, plus a pulse of 50 southbound Sand Martins. Two Common Sandpipers gave close views while it was sad to watch the demise of a moribund Common Tern chick as the parent bird looked on. We then moved on to ARC where a Night Heron had been reported earlier. The willow scrub around Tower Pits looked perfect for this crepuscular heron which quite likely is the bird from last weekend and still present somewhere amongst the willow scrub across the wetlands. From Screen hide two more Great White Egrets, a Little Ringed Plover, a Dunlin and two Common Sandpipers amongst a host of wildfowl.
Yesterday morning we walked the peninsula where Whitethroat, Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler were all seen (but mostly heard) in the Trapping Area, along with Reed and Sedge Warblers around Long Pits, a Wheatear and a Stonechat in the Desert and a Whinchat (my first of the autumn) by the wigwams. Elsewhere this week a large dung heap along Hope Lane, NR has attracted a steady flow of alba wagtails and several passage Yellow Wagtails. The garden moth trap has seen lesser numbers coming to light since the last heat wave but new species keep dropping in, including an Oak Eggar and a Svensson`s Copper Underwing, plus a second Striped Hawk-moth and a third Tree-lichen Beauty.
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