First swift
06 May 2015
If you look at my article on migrant dates on the website you'll see that I nominate 7 May as the day to look out for the first swift. In fact I saw one on 6 May, beating low over the fields on a most unsummery day of huge SW winds and rain. Clearly eager not to be unpunctual.
Jeremy
Ichneumon
05 May 2015
Susanne Horncastle sent me this picture of a beautiful insect in her kitchen. It's an unusual species, an ichneumon wasp, beautiful to look at though it does have some nasty habits. The ichneumon injects its eggs into a host (usually a caterpillar) and the grubs then develop inside the unfortunate creature and eat it from within. Nature is like that sometimes.
Jeremy
I’ve been keeping records of which birds are singing in which weeks for the last dozen or so years at Shingle Street and a clear pattern has emerged. I’m attaching a little chart illustrating this, which you could check to see what you should be particularly listening out for at any time of the year. I’ve only included those birds that sing regularly here and their usual song-periods. There are lots of exceptions involving birds just passing through, rare visitors or residents occasionally singing at untypical times. I have notes on all these if anyone is interested, but for the sake of simplicity have not incorporated them into this table.
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Hare
30 April 2015
I saw a hare, less than full size, on the beach infront of Coast House, this am. It was coursing, its nose to the ground. It saw an approaching dog and 'hared' off towards the sea.
Celia
Dates for summer migrants
Every spring and summer migrant birds return to Britain to breed, having made the long and perilous journey from their winter quarters in Africa. These annual movements are part of the deep rhythms of the natural world and from time immemorial they have served humankind as markers of the year’s seasons.
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Cuckoo
24 Apr 2015
At 8pm I heard my first cuckoo calling in the meadows west of Shingle Street. The wind had changed today and it felt much warmer. More swallows. Heard a lesser whitethroat in the gorse bushes
Celia
Stone curlew
27 April 2015
Peter Kennerley reported to me a most unusual observation this morning: a stone curlew that flew up from the concrete track south of the Martello and seemed to land on the shingle bank somewhere. This was clearly a bird of passage, but to where? They do nest in Breckland on sandy heaths there and I've sometimes wondered whether they might do so on Hollesley Heath one day ... I am green with envy to have missed this spectacular bird, having left SS just yesterday!
Jeremy
Otter day
25 Apr 2015
A few more migrants including wheatears (you can tell them by their white rumps – the bird's name is derived from Old English meaning 'white-arse'). But by far the highlight today was seeing two otters in broad daylight, one of which was just snuffling along through the reeds between the twin banks a few yards away from me. Magic.
Jeremy
News today
24 Apr 2015
New birds in today included lesser whitethroat and yellow wagtail. We also had another survey training session – on reptiles and amphibians – and we did discover one lizard!
jeremy
Groppers
23 Apr 2015
Chilly first thing with a persistent NE wind depressing bird song, but there are now two grasshopper warblers singing near the Sluice, so a second one must have come in overnight. Later in the day it warmed up and several swallows were swooping around and singing over the line of houses.
Jeremy
