Potters Bar & Barnet Local RSPB Group
News from Rye Meads Nature Reserve
by Vicky Buckel
Assistant Site Manager
Kingfisher Breeding season round up
On 18 July we confirmed that the kingfishers were
sitting on eggs! Yay! Plenty of visitors were on hand to observe the change
overs (although this pair were not as consistent in their change over times as
previous pairs).
Around 31 July chicks hatched! Plenty more activity for our dedicated kingfisher
watchers now the adults were coming and going regularly with fish to feed their
ever growing brood. On the afternoon of Monday 24 August, there was a report of
what sounded like one young fledging - it came out of the hole, flapped around
for a bit, and crash-landed into some vegetation. After recovering for a few
seconds it tried again for a bit, and then wasn't seen again. No more youngsters
were seen fledging that day, although there were still young in the bank as the
parents continued to take food in. By the end of Wednesday there was no more
feeding activity at the bank site so all youngsters must have fledged (so the
best we can say was they definitely had two and possibly more young)
RSPB Images
©
Biodiversity News
The highlight of our non bird news has been the water vole. The water voles
have been showing well and often from the bridge on the first boardwalk,
seemingly oblivious to visitors as they munch away on the glyceria in the
stream. Well worth a look next time you visit.
Joan has continued to monitor the hoverflies on the reserve but I have been
neglecting the moths a bit. Recently though, on the few traps I have carried
,out I had a Reed dagger, an antler, sallow, flame carpet, w
Webb’s wainscot, treble-bar and brimstone. Some lovely moths if you want to see
what they look like go to
http://www.ukmoths.org.uk During the
dismantling of the Ashby hide the management volunteers and I were able to get
some lovely views of number of a quite large moth, the old lady.
We had a couple of good birds turning up on
passage some of which stayed for a while and allowed plenty of people to see
them, which was nice. This began with a wood sandpiper on 27 and 28 June,
closely followed by a group of five garganey on Sunday 9 August, joined on the
Draper by a reeve (ruff) on the 19 August, which also stayed until the 28.
Other birds passing through and stopping on the Draper included little ringed
plover at the end of May and again at the end of June but this time staying for
a couple of weeks, an oystercatcher on 12 June, ringed plover and greenshank on
3 July and common sandpiper on 5 July.
The Draper has also seen the return of some winter visitors with teal showing
since the middle of June and Snipe since 19 August. Green sandpiper have also
returned in force with peaks of 7 on 28 June, 11 on July, 14 on 3 July and 9 on
2 August. These have been joined by large numbers of gadwall since 19 August,
shoveler emerging from eclipse and plenty of little grebe, which offered great
views throughout the summer.
There were some great views of large flocks of house and sand martins over the
reserve as they were congregating to head back to Africa. For a few days the
cloudy, wet weather kept them low and they buzzed overhead. We still have
Cetti’s warbler on site which have once again made their presence felt with
their
loud explosive call. Other birds joined these with their autumn song including
the resident robin and dunnock and also the chiffchaff which in recent years has
started to stay in the UK during our mild winters. I even had a blackcap
singing, which is following the chiffchaff’s example of staying in the UK.
Birds of prey have also been in attendance with red kite on 1 and 27 June, and
buzzard on 27 June. A peregrine was hanging around in the mornings and evenings
for a couple of weeks on the pylons over the HMWT Meadow.
Volunteers
More volunteers are always warmly welcomed at Rye Meads, either for the regular Potters Bar and Barnets Group rota day on the 4th Sunday of each month, or indeed for our daily rotas throughout the year.
Rye Meads Nature Reserve, Rye Meads Visitor Centre, Rye Road, Stanstead Abbotts,
Hertfordshire, SG12 8JS.
Tel 01992 708383. e-mail rye.meads@rspb.org.uk
