Nature Notes September 2022
Nature Notes September 2022
The tide was still high as I left Wells and headed along the North Norfolk Coast Path towards Blakeney. The harbour looked at its best in the sunshine, with eight small fishing boats tied up at the quay, and many leisure craft on their moorings in The Run. Swallows were hawking for flies over the rapidly moving water, dashing across the channels then swooping up and round again. Further on, others were perching in a partially dead tree, twittering with excitement. An alarm call was given and they dropped off the branches and scattered in all directions. After a few minutes they were back and the process repeated. This year’s youngsters were learning how to survive where there were no wires to rest on and lots of aerial predators which would snatch an unwary bird from its perch. It was all part of their preparation for the long migration to southern Africa.
There were ropes of ripe Blackberries alongside the path and Hawthorn bushes were bright with their red fruit, all waiting for the influx of winter Thrushes. The Thrushes had yet to arrive but there were plenty of other birds passing through from northern parts: flights of Wigeon heading purposefully west; a large flock of Golden Plover circling over the salt marsh, giving their mournful calls before coming down to rest after crossing the North Sea; invisible Greenshank identified only by their three note whistle, and best of all, three Curlew Sandpipers feeding quietly on the edge of a creek and showing their white eye stripes and cleaner, more elegant plumage than the Dunlin they were with. The Sandpipers will have been on their way to South Africa from the High Arctic coasts of Siberia: one of many amazing bird migrations undertaken every year.
Other wildlife does not need to make such journeys and can be found on our doorsteps, sometimes quite literally, such as the Red Kite that Mark photographed from his back doorstep in Reepham. Muriel and Paul spotted a Hornet Hoverfly at Pensthorpe and were delighted to find that it was the first time it had been recorded there. This hoverfly has evolved to look like an adult Hornet so that it can enter and leave the nests of its host without being attacked. The female lays her eggs in Hornet nests and the developing larvae survive by scavenging among the debris at the bottom of the structure, before the mature adults emerge and fly off to find a mate and start the cycle again.
Do let me know of any interesting wildlife you see rachel.42rr@btinternet.com