Barn owl
27 May 2015
Barn owl hunting in the evening over the fields. A welcome return since they've been less regular in recent months and I gather they have been suffering regionally as a result of a cold spring last year and a downturn in the rodent populations on which they depend. This tends to be a cyclical process so let's hope they will be breeding again here soon.
Jeremy
Corn buntings
26 May 2015
Back in SS now and took a walk to see if the corn buntings were back by the sea-wall walk to East Lane. I was worried about this small, precious colony after the sea walls were stripped of their bushes last year. To my relief I heard one singing, half way along. Will hope to relocate the others in the next week or so. Glad to see that the sheep have been moved back into the usual fields now too – they were trampling some of our best habitat in the area between the dykes. Threats on all sides ...
Jeremy
Mullein
07 May 2015
One good thing that happened on Election Day, whatever else may befall, was walking around with a botanist friend who kept exclaiming about the wild flowers we have here. He identified several things that weren't on the systematic list we've been keeping, including a Hoary Cinquefoil and a Spring Vetch. He was also very taken with our Hoary Mulleins (the ones with a candelabra shape), which whatever their immediate origins are classified as a rare wild plant, found only in Suffolk and Norfolk and he urged us to treasure them.
Jeremy
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
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
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
