Hares

23 Saturday Mar 2019

Posted by sconzani in animals, mammal, nature

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British mammals, Hare, Rye Harbour Nature Reserve

Before our visit to the Sussex Wildlife Trust’s Rye Harbour on 11 March, I’d only ever seen Hares at a distance, a long distance, so, although we saw lots of wonderful birds during our 8-mile exploration of the reserve that day, the highlight for me was getting reasonably close views of several Hares.

Admittedly, most of those views were of their rear ends as they skedaddled but, even then, we could see how big their ears and back legs were. And, although the photo below was also taken at quite a distance and has had to be heavily cropped, I do like how it shows the comparison between the Rabbit and the Hare.

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And, luckily, very luckily, this one Hare decided to sit still for longer than the previous ones – at least, it sat still for about 30 seconds, which was just enough to get one decent photo. What magnificent creatures they are!

190323 hares (5)

p.s. If you’ve not yet read Marianne Taylor’s wonderful book The Way of the Hare (Bloomsbury, London, 2017), you really should. It’s a treat!

Rye birds

27 Tuesday Feb 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, seaside, weather

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cormorant, Great black-backed gull, Lapwing, Redshank, Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, shoveler, Wigeon

My original title for this blog was ‘A mad Kiwi and an Englishwoman go birding in a howling gale’. I decided that was a trifle long but it was certainly an accurate reflection of our day at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. Nevertheless, we persevered, though we did put off walking the beach-top path – I think we would’ve been blown all the way back to Rye township if we’d tried that.

180227 Rye Harbour birds (4)

As you might expect, the birds were mostly hunkered down, sheltering where possible behind clumps of grass or huddled alongside sandy banks. Still, with brief stops here and there to scan the shingle and reeds with constantly watering eyes through fogging-up binoculars and short pops into hides (as much to warm up as to look out), we managed to clock up a total of 35 species. They were: Kestrel, House sparrow, Herring gull, Lesser black-backed gull, Black-headed gull, Mallard, Shelduck …

180227 Rye Harbour birds (3)

Shoveler (above, seen through a netting fence), Brent goose …

180227 Rye Harbour birds (5)

Wigeon (those handsome birds above), Oystercatcher, Carrion crow, Tufted duck …

180227 Rye Harbour birds (1)

Redshank (always a favourite of mine), Coot …

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Cormorant (already beginning to nest in trees near Castle Water) …

180227 Rye Harbour birds (2)

Great black-backed gull and Lapwing (both above), Little grebe, Mute swan, Teal, Little egret, Goldfinch, Woodpigeon, Blackbird, Green woodpecker, Great tit, Coal tit, Magpie, Mistle thrush, Pied wagtail, Greylag goose, Egyptian goose, Pheasant, and Starling.

Little egrets, again

22 Thursday Feb 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cuckmere Haven, Egretta garzetta, Little egret, Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, Winchelsea Beach

It seems Little egrets (Egretta garzetta) are rather partial to southern England as I saw several during my holiday in East Sussex last week, at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve and in the fields behind Winchelsea Beach.

180222 Little egrets (1)

We also get Little egrets in Wales, of course, and I’ve blogged about them before, when there were two visiting a Cardiff lake last July, but I was delighted to get much closer to one particular bird last Saturday at Cuckmere Haven. The weather was glorious, and people were out in droves to enjoy the almost-summery day, but this lovely little bird simply moved slightly further away as they passed, then returned to the well-trodden grassy path to continue probing for earthworms and miscellaneous insects.

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A little fox love

27 Saturday May 2017

Posted by sconzani in animals, nature

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fox, Red fox, Rye Harbour Nature Reserve

170527 Red fox cub (1)

Across clearings, an eye,
A widening deepening greenness,
Brilliantly, concentratedly,
Coming about its own business
~ from ‘The Thought Fox’ by English poet and children’s writer Ted Hughes (1930-1998), from his 1957 collection The Hawk in the Rain

Two go cuckoo at Camber

25 Thursday May 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, coastal fauna, nature, walks

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birding, birdwatching, Black-headed gull, Common tern, Gadwall, Lapwing, Marsh harrier, Oystercatchers, Ringed plover, Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, sheep, Shelduck, Skylark, Sussex Wildlife Trust guided walk

I celebrated my birthday, with my friend Jill, with a quick morning romp around the bird hides at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, followed by an afternoon Sussex Wildlife Trust guided walk around the inland part of the reserve, including a peek inside the normally locked Camber Castle. And what a superb day it was!

170524 Rye Harbour fauna (10)

I’ve already blogged about one of the highlights, the gorgeous Avocets and their chicks; another was hearing, and catching a fleeting glimpse of my very first Cuckoo. Here are a few more (not so crisp) photos of the wonderful (but mostly distant) wildlife we saw: Common terns, Skylark, Oystercatchers and Dunlin, Black-headed gull, Ringed plover, Gadwall and Shelduck, Lapwing and a Pied wagtail, Marsh harrier, and a number 72; plus, not pictured, Redshank, Coot, Cormorant, Tufted duck, Mallard, Little ringed plover, Grey heron, Kestrel and Whitethroat, as well as the more common birds. A birthday to remember!

The Russian who came in from the cold

20 Saturday May 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, coastal fauna, nature

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Anser albifrons, birding, birdwatching, Greylag goose, Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, White-fronted goose

That title sounds like something from a James Bond movie, sorry, but the sentiment is true enough. I’m referring to the White-fronted goose (Anser albifrons) I saw hanging out with a flock of Greylags during my recent visit to Rye Harbour Nature Reserve in Sussex (on the left in the photo below).
170520 White-fronted & Greylag geese (3)

The ‘white front’ in its name refers to the white patch on the front of its head around the beak and, as you can see, it’s quite a bit smaller than the Greylags, though its diet is similar: grass, clover, grain, wheat and potatoes.

170520 White-fronted & Greylag geese (2)

170520 White-fronted & Greylag geese (1)

These birds don’t breed in Britain but geese from two separate races frequently over-winter here; the birds with orange beaks breed in Greenland, and those with pink beaks, like the one I saw, breed in Siberia. The Greenland birds tend to over-winter in western Scotland and in Ireland, while the Greenland birds prefer southern England. They’re usually only seen from October through to March but the ranger said this one appeared with this flock of Greylags and has stayed on at the reserve with them. Maybe it doesn’t like the cold!

More Greylags flying in

The awesome avocet

16 Tuesday May 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, coastal fauna, nature

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Avocet, Avocet chicks, Avocet in flight, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Recurvirostra avosetta, RSPB logo, Rye Harbour Nature Reserve

Awesome is a much overused word but I feel my use of it here is justified – I truly was in awe of these most beautiful birds, seen at the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve in East Sussex last Saturday.

The Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) is one of Britain’s conservation success stories, hence its use as a logo by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. After years of being killed for food and taxidermy and having its eggs robbed by collectors, the Avocet disappeared from its British breeding sites around 1842, and it wasn’t until 1947 that just four pairs were rediscovered breeding in Suffolk. Incredibly, this was, in part, due to the Second World War: damage from an exploding bomb had inadvertently recreated their ideal habitat of shallow ponds and muddy islands near the seaside at Havergate and, at Minsmere, where the coastal marshes had been flooded to prevent enemy troops invading, shallow ponds also formed when the marshes began to dry up.

Further breeding sites have now been created and protected (at Rye Harbour, with electric fences to deter predators like foxes and badgers) in suitable areas around Britain’s coastline, and the number of breeding pairs is estimated to be around 500. Long may their success continue!

Rye Harbour Nature Reserve

14 Sunday Aug 2016

Posted by sconzani in birds, insects, nature, wildflowers

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largest coastal shingle area in Europe, Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, shingle beach

On the first full day of my short break in East Sussex, my friend Jill and I enjoyed a long walk around the fabulous Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, which, along with Dungeness, encompasses the largest coastal shingle area in Europe. Former gravel pits now filled with fresh water together with salt-marshes and saline lagoons provide the perfect habitats for a huge number of birds, as well as both common and rare species of plants and insects. I was in biological heaven!

160814 Rye Harbour (18)

The species in my photos are just a very small selection of what you can see: Black-headed gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) and an unidentified small brown wader; Geranium sp; Viper’s bugloss (Echium vulgare); Little egret (Egretta garzetta); Great mullein (Verbascum thapsus); Curlew (Numenius arquata); Pied wagtail (Motacilla alba); Large white butterfly (Pieris brassicae); Field Grasshopper (Chorthippus brunneus); a plant that looks like a dandelion but isn’t (!); Wild teasel (Dipsacus fullonum); Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo); Yellow horned poppy (Glaucium flavum); Coots (Fulica atra); Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus) and rather raggedy Red admiral (Vanessa atalanta) butterflies; Lapwings (Vanellus vanellus); and Marsh mallow (Althaea officinalis).