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Imbolc:
First
Day of Spring
WILDLIFE
REPORTS
29
February 2012
Around
midday
the sun shone weakly under a blue sky, but the warmth was enough for the
first reptiles of the year to come out. On the south and west facing carnot
wall of the Old
Fort (on Shoreham Beach) I noted at least
16* separate
Wall
Lizards, Podarcis
muralis, energetically skittered
over the flint cobbled wall and into holes and crannies. All but one had
intact tails and virtually all of them were large adults, but only the
largest had a distinctive greenish tinge. (*
duplicates excluded)
Adur
Lizards
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Widewater
Lagoon
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Wall
Lizard
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On
Widewater Lagoon a
raft of ten Teals
were seen swimming on the still lagoon, and distinctively upturning themselves
to feed. One of the three Little Egrets
was feeding in the shallows: it was seen swallowing half a dozen 3-spined
Sticklebacks, Gasterosteus
aculeatus, in
four minutes, with only two failed attempts. On
the verges of the
Waterworks
Road in Old Shoreham, I noted a small
clump of the first flowering
Sweet Violets of the year.
22
& 26 - 29 February 2012
A
keen-eyed birdwatcher caught a tantalising glimpse of a Yellow-browed
Warbler, Phylloscopus
inornatus, skulking in the bottom
of the bushes in a build-up area to the west of the hospital in Worthing.
This
Asiatic bird is a rare visitor to Britain where it is occcasionally to
be found in bushy coastal locations.
Image
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Image
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Image
3
23
February 2012
On
the still waters of Widewater Lagoon, a flotilla
of exactly a dozen Tufted Ducks,
Aythya
fuligula, rested, only swimming more
to the centre of the eastern end of the lagoon when approached.
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Snow
Bunting
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Tufted
Ducks
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The
two visiting Snow Buntings, Plectrophenax
nivalis,were
not so reticent feeding on the flat beach
shingle
in the same area as before just above the sea high tide
mark at the western end of Widewater.
Adur
Nature Notes: Snow Buntings
In
Lancing I saw my first two Lesser Celandine
flowers on a grass verge, visited by a Drone
Fly, my first hoverfly
of the year, as the sun shone briefly. On the verges by Lancing Manor there
were no sign of the Lesser Celandine
swathes in their usual place, just Dandelion
flowers.
19
February 2012
An
Iceland
Gull,
Larus
glaucoides, visited Shoreham
Harbour, looking very white in the bright light
Report
on "birding never
sleeps" Blogspot
12
February 2012
Over
twenty Redwings
landed at the top of the Hawthorn
tree in my Lancing back garden.
A
Slavonian
Grebe, Podiceps
auritus, was spotted off Lancing beach
(just west of Widewater) in the early afternoon,
close in to shore but swimming briskly east.
9
February 2012
A
flock of Redwings
has arrived to join yesterday's Fieldfares
to feast on Crab Apples, Holly
berries and Cotoneaster
in
my Shoreham garden.
8
February 2012
A
male Blackcap
appeared in my Lancing back garden, looking hunched and cold.
7
February 2012
Despite
all the disturbance by dog walkers at Widewater
Lagoon, the two Snow Buntings
were still present late in the morning.
Adur
Nature Notes: Snow Buntings
5 February
2012
Four
Fieldfares
visited the Hawthorn
tree in my Lancing back garden.
Images
It
is just above freezing in Shoreham town and damp but no snow.
My small garden pond was frozen over.
The
nearly low neap tide (2.1 metres) on the River
Adur was still like a mill pond with the
bridges
reflected in the still grey water. It was good Dunlin
watching conditions with hundreds of the small waders actively feeding
in the mud nearer the eastern bank (opposite the Airport)
than normal. Nearby in semi-wild conditions,
I noted my first Snowdrops
of the year just beginning to flower.
3 February
2012
The
air temperature fell to minus 6.3 °C
at 8:00 am.
Met
Office: Shoreham
Lowest
Temperatures this Millennium 2010
2 February
2012
At
dawn (7:00 am)
the air temperature was recorded at minus
2.6 °C, the coldest so far this year.
Shoreham
Weather
Adur
Nature Notes 2011
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