Kittiwakes at Splash Point, Seaford

Kittiwakes nesting at Splash Point

Nesting activity was in full swing at the Kittiwake colony at Splash Point, Seaford, yesterday.  Damage caused by last winter's storms meant that the extension to the promenade in front of the chalk cliffs was closed.  Nevertheless, it is possible to get a good view from the jetty and I counted 311 birds on cliff ledges.  That does not add up to nest sites, but birds were sitting on nests and there was a great deal of activity with birds flying in with beaks full of nest material.  Nests seem to consist of untidy piles of beach debris, including bits of coloured rope and a great deal of old guano.
It is too far from the jetty for me to get a good shot of the nests with my camera, but I was able to get this group from the top of the cliffs.  The only place where I felt safe standing (it would be daft to go too close to the edge after the battering the cliffs have had this year) just gave a view of this little group, but just after I took the photo, one of the birds stood up to reveal an egg.

Damselflies on the Pond

This pair are the common blue damsel fly, Coenagrion Puella.  They usually turn up on our garden pond around this time and start pairing up and laying eggs.  There were two pairs around when I took this photo, but I have seen up to six pairs in action at one time.  One or two females of the big broad-bodied Libellula depressa have been around, but no sign of egg-laying as yet.

Beeding Brooks - Reed bed birds and three Cuckoos

On an evening stroll over Beeding Brooks we heard the chuntering song of Reed Warblers, the muted, exasperated song of Reed Buntings and a sudden outburst from a Cetti's Warbler.  The Mute Swan's nest that we saw the last time we were over this way was now deserted and we later saw a pair with four signets. We diverted across the fields to avoid disturbing a flock of ten Greylag Geese which are usually to be seen further up the valley near Henfield.
Best of all was the sight of three Cuckoos careering across the meadows heading southwards to where we had heard Reed Warblers singing.

Newport to Cwm Dyffryn and around the estuary

We heard a piercing screaming bird call echoing around a small cove and thought at first that it was a gull, but eventually spotted a Peregrine on a cliff ledge and realised that it was the source of the noise.  I was not able to work out quite what the fuss was all about as I could not locate a potential mate, or a nest, so no explanation.

A Coast Path working party had been busy cutting grass and this had probably caused some disturbance of the local wildlife: several lizards ran across the path and a Slow Worm was sunning itself on a flight of steps. Huge, hairy Drinker Moth Philudoria potatoria caterpillars were trundling about and a couple of outsize Oil Beetles Meloe sp.  They are flightless and have very small elytra.
We are used to House Martins nesting in, well, houses and barns and the like.  So what did they do before there were houses?  We found the answer here on the cliffs where several pairs of House Martins were nesting on the cliffs in shallow overhangs.   There were what appeared to be guano streaks below these sites suggesting that they had been used for some time.
There were two Bar-tailed Godwits in the estuary to add to the list, feeding on the edge at high tide.  On sheltered rocks there were two small Herring Gull colonies with about half a dozen nests in each and a single Fulmar.  Oddly enough the last additions to the week’s bird list were Bluetit (at the cafe on a bird feeder) and a great tit on scrub along the estuary.

Colonies on Dinas Island

Dinas Island isn't really an island, just a big headland, but the land that joins it to the mainland is low-lying and it might have been an island one once and it might become one again.  On the summit there was sheep pasture with Skylarks singing and we saw and heard Linnets, Goldfinches, Wrens, Rock Pipits and Dunnocks all the way round.  On the east side we saw Wheatears and got quite close to them.  At home we saw some on passage, a while back, but they do not breed in any numbers and we would not expect to see them again until August/September.  Here they are likely to be breeding.  There were several Stonechats and we saw adults with fledglings near the path.  The air was very still and humid, even on the top of the cliffs and there were flying insects everywhere and lots of swallows and house martins wheeling to and fro, feeding on them.

Razorbills and Guillemots on Dinas Island

There were few seabirds to be seen on the exposed west side, just a couple of cormorants and some Oystercatchers, but on the more sheltered west side on Careg John Evan there was a sizeable colony of nesting razorbills, with a few guillemots.  They were noisy and active with a lot of mating activity, but, sadly I counted five dead ones.  This has not been a good year for coastal seabirds.

Lackey moth caterpillar colony

There were several Lackey Moth caterpillar colonies on Hawthorn trees like this one.  They were very active and they seemed to be moulting, leaving empty skins hanging about.

Goodwick to Caregwastad Point

Sheltered parts of the path were teeming with St. Mark’s flies.  They are the large black ones with dangly legs that swarm about on warm days in the spring.  They are harmless, but not one of our more attractive insects.  The swallows and house martins that were teeming along the cliffs must have been having a feast! We had birdsong almost all the way along, with Whitethroats singing almost continuously, but also Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Skylark, Rock Pipit, Blackbird, Wren, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Dunnock and Linnet.

There were ravens overhead and a couple of Buzzards.  Out at sea there were Cormorants and one or two Gannets cruising in wide circles.  Close in to the cliffs there were Greater Black-backed and Herring Gulls and towards Carregwastad point we saw Fulmars.  It wasn’t until we were walking back that we spotted the Fulmar colony of fifteen to twenty nests on a sheltered face of the cliff.

Seals having a snooze on the beach

We saw Grey Seals bobbing up frequently in the bay, sometimes four at the surface at one time. There were some tiny inaccessible (to humans) beaches where a few had hauled out.

Bluebells were in flower all along the cliffs.  They are smaller and more widely spaced than we are used to seeing in our Sussex woods and generally have only a few florets in each head, but they still make a nice show - and there is Stitchwort too, the best accompaniment to Bluebells. The vegetation changed noticeably with the geology as we passed from a section of heath to a section of green pasture.  The heath sections were dominated in parts by Gorse, fully in flower, and in others by Heather.  We found Heath Milkwort, larger and with fleshier leaves than the Common Milkwort that we are used to on our chalk downs.  Right on the path there was a patch of Lousewort Pedicularis sylvatica in full flower and a boggy section had Round-leaved Water Crowfoot with small white-petalled flowers and fleshy, clover-like leaves.  On a rock there was Bird’s Foot Ornithopus perpusillus.  English Stonecrop covered some rocks, but was was not yet in flower.  There were spikes of Foxgloves and Pennywort was frequent on stone walls.  Sea Campion and Thrift were both to be seen, but not as profusely as on some stretches of the coast.




We encountered a small weevil on a lichen encrusted rock which had an unusual heart-shaped marking on its wing cases.  I am hoping that someone at the NHM will be able to identify it for me.  I got a reply straight away:
Graptus triguttatus, with a link to website with a much better photo than mine which confirmed the identification.

Canada Geese with four goslings on an offshore rock

We are used to seeing Canada Geese on lakes and ponds and around the coast, but were a bit surprised to see a pair perched on top of a rock pinnacle off shore - even more surprised when we realised that they had four downy goslings with them. The rock had a grassy summit and the adults were feeding on the grass (but one always alert and on the lookout). On our return we saw the family on the sea, heading for shore and later safe on the beach (still with the male on look-out)

We have been accompanied by birdsong almost all of the way along the path today. Mainly Whitethroats, but also Goldfinch, Blackbird, Dunnock, Robin and Linnet. In the wooded cwms there were Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers. All day there was a constant westward movement of Swallows and House Martins, with a few Swifts and Sand Martins, too.

Hybrid Campion

There were lots of Bluebells near the path with Stitchwort and Red Campion. We also came across this odd looking Campion, which may be the hybrid Silene x hampeana between the Red and White. It is pale pink with pale green foliage, larger than the species forms and the petals have irregular notches that the species forms do not have.

A stroll around the estuary

On the first day of our holiday in Pembrokeshire we decided to take a gentle stroll around the Afon Nyfer estuary, hoping to see some birds and shore plants. As we walked along the north shore we caught sight of an otter feeding in the shallows and watched it for a long time. We were even able to make a short video, which is a bit shaky and not very sharp, but as I have only seen a few otters in my life, I think I can be allowed to get a bit excited about being able to film one - even if rather badly.

It was very busy feeding in the shallow, fast-flowing water, much of the time with its head under water, occasionally completely submerged for short periods and occasionally going to the edge to eat something it had caught.  All this in spite of the presence of people and dogs on our side of the river.

There were plenty of birds about too, including Little Egret ,Shelduck, Redshank, Canada Geese and Mallard.  On the foreshore there was a small mixed flock of Dunlin and Ringed Plover, very smart in summer plumage and very busy feeding.  A Common Sandpiper did a very good demonstration of bobbing up and down on a rock at the water’s edge.  In the wooded areas there were singing Blackbirds, Robins, Chiffchaff, Whitethroat and Blackcap and we had a brief glimpse of a cock Bullfinch. Altogether a good start to the holiday.