It looked like it was going to be a slightly warmer day so I
packed up after breakfast and headed down to Lower Higham church for a walk out
onto the marshes. The sun was shining
but it was still below 10c but at least the wind had dropped to almost nothing
after picking up again last night.
It was a pleasant ‘there and back’ walk but it was surprisingly
quiet with little in the way of song. I did find three each of Blackcap, Sedge and
Willow Warbler in the reedy Hawthorn scrub and Cetti’s were vocal but I thought
that there would be Whitethroats in some ‘normal’ Cuckoo action. It was all a little odd.
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| Willow Warbler |
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| Willow Warbler |
Three Wheatears were out with the Sussex herd
but there were no Egrets and I only heard Med Gulls on a couple of occasions.
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New life...
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There were still a few duck out on Higham Marshes with some
smart Teal seeking refuge in one of the main channels after a striking male
Marsh Harrier flew through.
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| Marsh Harrier |
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| Teal, Tufted Ducks, Coots and the bum of a Mallard |
I saw one Small White and a single chilly Eristalis pertinax
and after a quick look from the ‘river’ wall and a chat with the horses I
retraced my steps. There was a nice mix
of flowering and spent Cotlsfoot heads and the first leaves were now visible
too.
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Drying out - such a shame
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| Coltsfoot |
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Pretty sure this is a Leatherjacket - the larvae of a Cranefly
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male Eristalis pertinax - not those from two pairs of orange feet!
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Small White
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I watched the Rabbits in the church paddock before moving on
after a coffee.
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Mr Sparra with nest material
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I fancied checking on the Early Purple Orchids in Great
Crabbles Wood and after the short walk down I was pleased to find several well
in flower and quite a few more well on the way. There has definitely been more ‘traffic’
through there since my last visit and a few were looked a little worse for
wear.
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| Early Purple Orchid |
The woodland floor was now a carpet of gleaming pink backed
white Anemones with their heads looking down at Lesser Celandines and Moschatel
with the first cobalt Bluebells nodding throughout.
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Wood Anemones
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Wood Spurge
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| Bluebells |
It was still pretty cool
and there were no insects within the wood so I moved to the edge and the
Crabbles Bottom Orchard section which was more profitable from an invertebrate perspective.
Dark-edged Bee Flies and Eristalis pertinax were still the
two dominant species but everything else was quite hard work. I found an unidentifiable
male Cheilosia hoverfly and likewise a Eupeodes and similarly members of Leucophora,
Pollenia and Hebecnema after evening help from Phil C.
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| Dark-edged Bee Fly |
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| Dark-edged Bee Fly |
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| Eristalis pertinax |
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| Eristalis pertinax |
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| Eristalis pertinax |
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| Pollenia sp |
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| Leucophora sp |
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| Hebecnema sp |
I only saw two Bombus terrestris and a single female
Anthophora plumipes but there were many tiny Bees attending the few Dandelions
along the path and hopefully Tony M will be able to at least point me towards a
genus but I had a go at the Nomad Bees myself.
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| Mystery tiny bee #1 |
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Mystery tiny bee #1
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Mystery tiny bee #2 on Barren Strawberry flower
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female Anthophora plumipes
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Most were very small and I suspect that they are male Nomada
zonata while a bigger species seems to be the familiar Nomada fucata.
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| Nomada fucata |
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| Nomada fucata |
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| Nomada zonata |
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| Nomada zonata |
I found a smart Gymnocheta viridis for the site list and
Comma and Peacock briefly came down on the path.
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| Comma |
It had started to cloud a little so I came
home for lunch and spent the afternoon tinkering in the garden and greenhouse
where I was pleased to at last seen a female Anthophora plumipes on the
Dead-nettle along with a couple of now quite faded males.
Lovely photos as ever but the image of the Small White is surely a male Green-veined White? The dark markings extend too far down the edge of the wing for the former & you can almost see a hint of the wing markings underneath.
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