Bird News: Ibsley Water - A juvenile wheatear, 1 knot, 1 juvenile ringed plover, 3 adult common tern, c700 sand martin, 1 swift and 8 goosander reported. A mixed flock of small birds reported included a spotted flycatcher. Overhead a hobby and a raven.
Arrived in heavy, fine rain to find the wheatear cowering right under the front of the Tern hide, trying to stay dry. I could not really see much else although there were clearly hundreds of sand martin over Ibsley Water.
It was the first Sunday of the month so it was volunteer day, luckily the rain stopped and we were able to clear some more of the willows at the top of Ivy Lake. Not really a bird friendly activity so wildlife was limited to one very large common frog.
At lunchtime I had a quick look out of the Ivy South hide, just in case. Yesterday the great white egret was reported from there, but this report was nothing compared to, a surely not serious, report in the book of pygmy cormorant!!!! The worry of course is that one day there will be one, so I just had to take a look. Unsurprisingly no luck on either count.
In the afternoon I was doing a public event looking for fifty types of "bugs". With a selection of moths from the trap followed by the raft spider and, alder sawfly larva all at the Centre we were off to a good start even before we went to the meadow. In the meadow we found meadow grasshopper, long-winged conehead and, only days after the first reserve record, a lesser marsh grasshopper. Then out on the lichen heath for field grasshoppers and small copper. Elsewhere we found three species of harvestmen, common blue damselfly, common darter, common carder bee, woodlice, slugs, snails, ants, wasps, bees and various flies. We lost count but agreed we had well exceeded the fifty target.
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