New Hythe Saturday 6th November

It was a great morning to be out today and there seemed to be more birds on the wing than of late and New Hythe was buzzing.

Brookland lake remained unchanged with still no increase in ducks, just an increase in fishermen, but then it is the weekend. Having said that I did pick up two new species for the NH November list with a single Common Gull on the lake and two Grey Wagtails flying over.
The path around the Sunken Marsh is now well and truly in it's muddy phase, it'll be like that now until next Spring I expect. But there was quite a lot of activity there with calling Cetti's Warblers, two Wrens giving it full volume, a few Greenfinches and Chaffinches, unfortunately no Bramblings among them, and loads of Blue and Long tailed Tits. There were a few Redwings feeding on the plentiful supply of red berries but not allowing anything like a close approach and overhead I saw first a Sparrowhawk with attendant Crow and then a Kestrel perched on top of a telegraph pole.

The tide was two thirds up and racing in, so not much to see on it but I was lucky enough to hear and catch a glimpse of a Redshank as it flew downstream, no doubt displaced by the rising tide and a Little Egret making the most of the last piece of exposed mud.
A noisy Green Woodpecker, one of five seen in all flew out of the corner of the marsh and a hen Pheasant was also seen as I made my way along to attempt to scale the East face of the mound, a treacherous ascent even in dry conditions. Two thirds of the way up I was startled by a Great Spotted Woodpecker which flew low over my head and into a small Oak tree just in front of me. I don't think it saw me because it just carried on it's business, tap tapping the branches while I braced myself on the steep slope trying to get my camera out. It was a bit tricky and the result below reflects that I think!





A brief pause at the top of the mound resulted in a typical view of a Bullfinches bum as it disappeared down the track and fly overs of Starlings and Goldfinches.
Then a brief and welcome burst of weak November sun arrived and I started noticing a few creatures moving in the undergrowth. One of these was this Marmalade hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus pictured below.

When I said earlier that NH was buzzing I meant it. I found a few of the bumble bees pictured below, busily feeding on the remaining few flowers. I think it's a Common Carder, Bombus pascuorum, hopefully i'm right.
Below that is another hoverfly which looks like Syrphus ribesii who was also hanging on in the sunshine but disappeared as soon as the clouds came back. I'm sure there won't be many more opportunities, if any, to see these again before winter sets in.

A scan of Abbey Mead lake resulted in Little Grebe making it onto today's list and in among the Tufted Ducks and plentiful Gt Crested Grebes were five Pochard, as ever enjoying a midday kip in the middle of the lake.

The East scrub was, well, the East scrub really. Not much to see other than four more Green Woodpeckers, a Dunnock and two Fieldfares perched on top of a small tree. Like the Redwings they are very wary at the moment and although I tried to get close enough for a picture they wouldn't allow it.

I checked out Johnson's lake before I called it a day and was pleased to find five Gadwall, a couple of Shovelers, a Kingfisher and finally a Goldcrest which made a brief appearance after a long wait. I'm just glad of their constant calling otherwise i'd never see them.

So 41 species in all and 10 additions to the November NH list. A very enjoyable visit and i'll finish with a last note of Summer with the picture below of a very late Dog Rose taken today.

New Hythe 28th September

I mentioned in a previous post that these damp September mornings remind me of hop picking years ago. I found these hops pictured below growing along the edge of the sunken marsh, I think these are wild and although they have the aromatic smell of traditional hops it doesn't seem as strong as in the cultivated variety. Still nice though.

Although it was a very overcast morning it was warm and calm and this meant there were still a few butterflies to be seen here and there, like the Green veined White below. I also saw quite a few Speckled Woods but they were looking quite ragged and worn as was a single Red Admiral.

Brooklands lake only had a few Tufties, Coots and Swans on it plus a few House Martins feeding quite high above. No sign of any Pochards yet.

The sunken marsh was quite busy with Blue, Great and Long tailed Tits as well as a Blackcap. And there were also increased numbers of Blackbirds and Song Thrushes. Not sure if these are migrants but I suppose they could be?

The tide was right out on the river and it looked good for a wader or two but I didn't find any. I did see a Little Egret though and plenty of Herons, along with Little Grebe, Teal, Kingfisher and Grey Wagtail among the more common species. Also along the river hanging out with the Mallards were the two bitsers pictured below. Not sure what they are but they must be related I think!

Lots of Woodpeckers around today with three or four each of Green and Great Spotted seen, mostly in the East and West scrub areas. Also here I saw five Mistle Thrushes fly over and heard a Chiffchaff singing it's Spring song. Try as I might I couldn't find a Redwing, bit optimistic really but I don't suppose it'll be long.

The bad news is that the stream has been polluted again. I spoke to the ranger who told me that the nearby sewage treatment works was responsible this time. I suppose the only 'good' thing is that being so soon after the previous incident there was nothing too much in the stream to kill off this time. Pretty depressing all the same.

There's a large nettle patch just at the entrance to the small wood by the river and today it was full of spiders, big spiders! I think they're the Garden variety (Araneus diadematus) but they were all over the place. I'd just waded through the high nettles with my arms raised and I couldn't help wondering if one might have dropped in my jacket pocket! Love 'em or hate 'em they are fascinating and you've got to be amazed by their webs.

Other creatures lurking in the undergrowth were Dark Bush Crickets pictured below.
Note the antennae, longer than the body, this usually suggests Cricket as opposed to Grasshopper. This one is a female and you can clearly see the large ovipositor extending from her abdomen. I guess the Crickets would make a decent meal for the spiders.

The calm warm conditions also seemed to suit the hoverflies, I saw several species today but only managed a picture of this Marmalade fly (Episyrphus balteatus). I don't suppose there will be many more chances to see them this year.

Garden news this weekend included two visits from a Grey Wagtail. I did take a couple of long distance shots through the patio doors but these birds are so superb that I can't bring myself to post a picture that doesn't do them justice. Hopefully it will return and let me take a better one.

New Hythe Friday 30th July (Part 2)

I took two cameras with me to New Hythe yesterday. Part one of this post consisted of pictures taken with my usual camera and all the photos posted today in part two were taken in macro mode with my old camera. The lack of decent light at times and a bit of a breeze made life a bit difficult but it was nice to be looking down instead of up for a change. Especially as there's not too much going on with the birds at the moment.

First under the lens was this seemingly headless ladybird which is the two spot variety. It threw me a bit at first because I was expecting the standard format of red with black spots but these can be quite variable and can occur black with red spots like this one.

SEVEN SPOT LADYBIRD

Below is one of the commonest ladybirds, the seven spotted variety. I was surprised at how shiny the elytra or front wings are, these help protect the hind wings of ladybirds and other beetles and they look as if they've been polished when seen close up. Although harmless it's best not to handle them too much as they can leave a quite strong smelling stain on fingers. This is known as reflex bleeding and is probably a signal to predators of their unpalatable taste.

MARMALADE FLY (EPISYRPHUS BALTEATUS)

When the sun came out I was struck by the sheer quantity of hover flies in the air and on the flower heads where they feed on nectar. There are an awful lot of hover flies in the UK, somewhere in the region of 250 species I believe and they aren't too easy to identify but I think the three pictured below are all Episyrphus balteatus or Marmalade Fly which is a bit easier to pronounce. I think this is one of the commonest species and you'll most likely find them in your own back garden.

Next up is Rhagonycha fulva or Common Soldier Beetle. Common is certainly the word for this one being pretty abundant everywhere it seems. When I was a lad we used to call these bloodsuckers because we thought that's what they did and that's why they were red. Because of this we kept our distance from them but would stamp on them given half a chance. Another quaint name for them is Bonking Beetle, this is due to their tendency to mate in full view on Cow Parsley blooms and any other flower head they can find.

SOLDIER BEETLE (RHAGONYCHA FULVA) OR BONKING BEETLE!

I included the picture below just for the colour really. Unusually there was only the one Cinnabar caterpillar feeding on it's favourite plant, Yellow Ragwort. Normally you would expect to see more all feeding on the same plant. They don't need to hide as their colouring is a warning to predators that they don't taste too good. The adult is of course the Cinnabar moth, found flying in daylight with bright red hindwings.

CINNABAR CATERPILLAR

I managed to get up close and very personal to these Common Blue(I think) Damselflies mating. It doesn't look like a very friendly affair to me but hey, whatever turns you on!

COMMON BLUES

And finally..............................This is the same pair (below). I believe this is referred to as 'in the wheel'. The more romantic may think 'in the heart' is more appropriate.

Now is it my imagination or is that a big smile on her face!!!