Recent sightings

Sunday, 24 January 2010

The bittern has been seen really well again today! Its been seen for most of the week which is great.

There have been lots of the usual wildlife around at the reserve including gadwall, teal, mallard, tufted duck, shoveler, pochard.

Bullfinches have been seen around the visitor centre grounds.

From the Draper hide a woodcock (9 Jan), four meadow pipits and a yellow hammer (15 Jan) were seen.

The bittern has been at the Moorhen hide for a week, along with snipe, water rail, green sandpiper.

Along the trails a mealy redpoll (22 Jan) and a stoat (24 Jan) have been spotted.

Bittern	Woodcock	Meadow pipit	Yellowhammer	Mealy redpoll

Friday, 22 January 2010

Bittern news:

The bittern, that was first spotted at the Moorhen Hide on Sunday, has been seen nearly every day since. Lots of people have seen the bird on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Although the bird wasn't seen yesterday we think it might be still around!

Bittern

Sunday, 17 January 2010

Excitingly, a bittern has been showing well from the Moorhen hide today (Sunday)!

Bittern

Monday, 11 January 2010

On Saturday 9 January a woodcock was seen flying over and around the Draper hide. It landed either in the ditch or in the Draper hide scrape! This is a really nice sighting as we don't see many.

Kingfishers, water rail and bullfinches were also seen around the Draper hide on Saturday.



Today, Monday 11 January, the following has been spotted:

4 meadow pipit from the Draper hide

2 great spotted woodpeckers

1 green woodpecker

26 shoveler, 86 teal, 16 pochard, 2 mute swan, 1 cormorant, 1 lesser black backed gull, 13 black headed gull, 3 common gull and lots of tufted duck, gadwall and mallards - all seen from the Tern hide.

Woodcock	Water rail	Meadow pipit

Friday, 8 January 2010

Happy New Year everyone!

This is what has been seen so far in 2010:

Visitor centre - fieldfare, song thrush, blackbird, great tit, blue tit, green finch, chaffinch, goldfinch, bullfinch, reed bunting, robin, wren, dunnock, pheasant, collard dove, wood pigeon, magpie, moorhen, lapwing, sparrowhawk, kestrel, peregrine, and rabbit.

Draper hide - teal, gadwall, mallard, tufted duck, coot, moorhen, reed bunting and kestrel.

Moorhen hide - water rail, moorhen, coot, gadwall, mallard, and snipe.

Tern and Gadwall hides - tufted duck, teal, shoveler, pochard, gadwall, mallard, coot, mute swan, little grebe, cormorant, grey heron, black headed gull, common gull, lesser black backed gull, herring gull, green sandpiper, and water rail.

Kingfisher hide - redwing, great spotted woodpecker, and kingfisher.

Trails - bullfinch, redwing, reed bunting, field fare, goldfinch, song thrush, green woodpecker, long tailed tit, cettis warbler, treecreeper, mistle thrust and nuthatch.

Fieldfare	Peregrine	Teal	Water rail	Mistle thrush

Saturday, 19 December 2009

There was great view of a jack snipe from the Draper Hide on Saturday 19 December.

Jack snipe

Thursday, 17 December 2009

The feeding station (by the visitor centre) has been very active recently now the weather is getting colder. Its nice to sit in the classroom and watch the feeders while sipping a cup of coffee!

Teal have been very visible around the reserve, from most hides. Redwings and fieldfare's have been seen in hedgerows all around the reserve. The peregrines have been seen quite regularly, the best views have been from the visitor centre and the Lapwing Hide. Its been quite good for waders recently, with green sandpipers and snipe being seen and water rails have been heard (and occasionally seen).

We've had some lovely views of a fox that has been seen wandering around the reserve.

Teal	Redwing	Fieldfare	Snipe	Water rail

Friday, 11 December 2009

What to look for in December:

Fieldfare and redwings in the hedgerows around the reserve.

A pair of peregrines can be seen from the Lapwing Hide, sitting on the pylon in the meadow.

Kingfishers can be seen from the Moorhen Hide, along the trails and along the river.

The meadow outside the Lapwing Hide is flooded so there are good numbers of gulls, lapwing, shoveler, teal, mallard and gadwall.

Great created grebe, and a variety of ducks can be seen from the Tern and Gadwall Hides.

Keep your eyes pealed for the elusive water rail that has been seen quite regularly from the Kingfisher Hide.

Fieldfare	Peregrine	Kingfisher	Teal	Water rail

Sunday, 22 November 2009

Our winter visitors are coming in!

We've had some good sightings of redwing, teal, snipe, common sandpiper, common gull, stonechats and this week the fieldfares arrived at the reserve!

We've also had great views of kingfisher, male and female peregrines and a little egret appeared at the reserve for a couple of days last week.

Redwing	Teal	Stonechat	Fieldfare	Little egret

Monday, 16 November 2009

Here are some of the recent wildlife highlights from the reserve:

A peregrine has been seen a few times over the last week, sitting on the pylon near the visitor centre. Make sure you look at the pylons you never know what might be resting there!

Draper Hide - the wildfowl are coming in: teal, shoveler, gadwall, mallard, and tufted duck have all been seen really well. There have been great sightings of kingfisher, snipe, green sandpiper, reed bunting and cettis warbler.

Moorhen and Kingfisher Hides - kingfisher, snipe, shoveler, teal, gadwall, mallard, grey wagtail, song thrust and cettis warbler.

Gadwall and Tern Hides - kingfisher, snipe, lesser black backed gull, greater black backed gull, herring gull, black headed gull, and golden eye.

Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust Wet Meadow - meadow pipit and little egret. The four water buffalo have been joined by some cattle: one long horn and five belted galloway.

Peregrine	Reed bunting	Song thrush	Meadow pipit	Little egret

Sunday, 25 October 2009

We've found a rare plant!

The sulphur cinquefoil (potentilla recta) is a very rare casual perennial of waste ground. Its a lovely plant, the 'sulphur' in the name refers to the yellow colour of the petals. The sulphur cinquefoil can grow between 30-70 cm. 

It's near the Moorhen hide.

Saturday, 24 October 2009

The kingfisher has been seen really well over the last couple of weeks - we've been getting great views from the Moorhen and Draper Hides.

A peregrine has been seen on the pylons by the visitor centre over the last couple of day, so remember to look at them when you visit.

From the Draper hide green sandpiper, common sandpiper, snipe, kingfisher, teal and shoveler have all been seen really well. A buzzard flew over on 16 October, and a garganey was spotted on the 18 October.

Two pintails and a yellow legged gull were seen on the 3 October at the lagoon (Tern and Gadwall) hides.

Some of our winter visitors are starting to come in - redwings were first spotted on the reserve on 16 October.

Peregrine	Green sandpiper	Common sandpiper	Snipe	Yellow-legged gull

Saturday, 3 October 2009

Unusually, two pintails were spotted on one of our lagoons (one that can be seen from the Tern Hide) on Saturday.

Pintail

Thursday, 24 September 2009

Draper Hide

Gadwall, mallard, tufted duck, wigeon, Canada goose, coot, moorhen, grey heron, mute swan, sparrowhawk, pied wagtail, common sandpiper, green sandpiper, snipe, kingfisher and Egyptian geese (24 September).

Moorhen Hide

Gadwall, mallard, tufted duck, coot, moorhen, common sandpiper, green sandpiper, kingfisher, and cettis warbler.

Gadwall Hide

Gadwall, mallard, tufted duck, pochard, cormorant, moorhen, coot, mute swan, common gull, black headed gull, and little black backed gull.

Kingfisher Hide

Kingfisher, coot, moorhen, blue tit, great tit, chaffinch, blackbird, great spotted woodpecker, and spotted flycatcher (20 September).

Around the Centre and Trail

Pheasant, great tit, blue tit, long tailed tit, chaffinch, greenfinch, chiffchaff, robin, blackbird, wren, cettis warbler, wood pigeon, house martin, sand martin, marsh harrier, osprey, sparrowhawk, kestrel, kingfisher, magpie and jay.

Egyptian goose	Wigeon	Common sandpiper	Green sandpiper	Kingfisher

Wednesday, 2 September 2009

August Sightings 20090

Draper Hide

Garganey, wigeon (first seen 29 August), teal, mallard, gadwall, pochard, tufted duck, shoveler, Canada goose, mute swan, grey heron, lapwing, green sandpiper (up to 8), snipe, ruff, little grebe, moorhen, coot, black headed gull, common tern, house martin, hobby, and osprey (seen on 28 August).

Ashby and Moorhen Hides

Coot, moorhen, reed warbler, sedge warbler, cettis warbler, juvenile cuckoo, grey heron, gadwall, mallard, and little grebe.

Gadwall and Tern Hides

Cormorant, Canada geese, mute swan, moorhen, coot, mallard, gadwall, pochard, tufted duck, little grebe, swift, house martin, kingfisher, common tern, black headed gull, great spotted woodpecker, and green woodpecker.

Kingfisher Hide

Kingfisher, grey heron, coot, moorhen, stock dove, great spotted woodpecker, wren, blue tit, great tit, chaffinch, and grass snake.

Trails

Sparrowhawk, kestrel, green woodpecker, great spotted woodpecker, starling, chiffchaff, reed bunting, reed warbler, sedge warbler, wren, robin, blackbird, blue tit, great tit, long tailed tit, chaffinch, green finch, dunnock, and swift.

Visitor center

Great tit, blue tit, robin, blackbird, chaffinch, green finch, dunnock, collard dove, kestrel, sparrowhawk, pheasant and magpie.

Butterflies

Peacock, large white, red admiral, comma, small tortoiseshell, large skipper, painted lady, meadow brown, speckled wood, common blue, and holly blue.

Other wildlife

Water vole, grass snake and fox.

Garganey	Ruff	Wigeon	Osprey	Kingfisher

Tuesday, 25 August 2009

A female ruff was spotted from the Draper hide last Thursday (20 August). Good views have been seen every day since.

The kingfishers didn't fledge over the weekend as we predicted, but we think at least one fledged yesterday afternoon (Tuesday 24 August).

We are still getting great views of the garganey from the Draper Hide.

Ruff	Kingfisher	Garganey

Friday, 21 August 2009

Kingfisher Update

The kingfishers are still feeding young in the nestbank - we've been getting great views! The adults are going in and out of the bank every ten minute or so.

We think the young are due to fledge this weekend (Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 August)!

Recently there have been a few garganey seen from the Draper Hide, along with up to 9 green sandpiper, and snipe.

Kingfisher	Garganey	Green sandpiper	Snipe

Friday, 31 July 2009

The kingfisher chicks have hatched!

Over the weekend/ beginning of this week the kingfisher chick hatched -  the adult birds were seen removing egg shells and taking in fish.

This is a great time to see kingfishers, as the adult birds are very active trying to feed their hungry young on small fish and large aquatic insects. We’ll get amazing views while they are feeding the young, which they will do for about 25 days – so this is the perfect opportunity to visit!

Kingfisher

Tuesday, 28 July 2009

Excitingly, a rare species of moth has been seen at Rye Meads. The raspberry clearwing moth has only been in the UK for a short time - and we had 9 at once (we think this is the first time more than one has been seen!)

The kingfishers are still around, and on eggs. They have been seen doing change overs, when you come and visit please let us know if you saw them and what they were doing.

The turtledoves are still being seen around the visitor centre. Keep your eyes to the sky, and the pylons, as peregrine, hobby (on the 18 July), kestrel and sparrowhawk have all been seen recently.

There are lots of other fantastic wildlife that can be seen at the moment, including:

Gadwall, mallard, shoveler, tufted duck, teal, pochard, little grebe, great crested grebe, green sandpiper, snipe, common tern, chiffchaff, cettis warbler, reed warbler, sedge warbler, white throat, blackcap, reed bunting, grey heron, muntjac deer, common blue damselfly, blue tailed damselfly, comma butterfly, red admiral butterfly, small tortoishell butterfly, small and large white butterfly, painted lady butterfly, meadow brown butterfly, and ringlet butterfly.

Kingfisher	Turtle dove	Peregrine	Kestrel	Grey heron

Tuesday, 14 July 2009

We think the kingfishers are on eggs! Woohoo!

The pair have been displaying typical behaviour, swapping over from sitting on the eggs.

What a perfect time to come and glimpse a view of these fantastic birds! Keep checking on here for kingfisher updates - when the adults are feeding young is a great time to see them.

Did you know you can keep up to date with the reserve by joining the Rye Meads facebook group!

Kingfisher