Highlights
The Observation pages contain a synopsis of the more interesting sightings of birds at Rye Meads this year, plus a summary of last year.
Highlights of 2009 to date
- A pair of Barn Owls were our first presumed wild Barn Owls since 1995
- The severe weather in February produced two Bitterns
- Up to four Water Pipits were present during Jan and Feb, with two more in November
- A Marsh Harrier in late April was followed by a pair two days later, tantalisingly displaying over the Scrape; another was recorded in September.
- A Wood Sandpiper joined the regular Green Sandpipers on one day in late June
- An Autumn juvenile Reeve spent a few days on the Scrape
- One record of Osprey moving south in August
- A juvenile Mediterranean Gull in Autumn is in danger of becoming an annual event
- A Little Owl in August was amazingly our first since 1984, even though they breed just a few hundred metres off site
- Goodness knows why we get so few Nightingales - a bird caught in August was our first for eight years
- A Garganey stayed for two days in October - another species becoming almost an annual visitor
- Finally, a Black Redstart endured awful weather on one day in November