SPOTTED!

Wildlife in (and around) Hailsham

by Tim Fox

Goodbye Hailsham south, and hello Hailsham north! Two weeks in and the garden bird list is at a healthy 19 species, including a very low flyover by a raven, coal tit on the feeders, and grey wagtail, the latter a species never recorded in my 27 years at previous address and quite a surprise. Sadly, as I was sitting on the patio as it landed at the bird bath, my gesticulation during a conference call spooked it, and it didn’t stay very long, but the flash of colour on its underneath as it flew off was confirmation of identification. Very similar in size to its cousins, the pied and the yellow wagtails (which all get their name because they have a very long tail relative to their body size, and they appear to wag it up and down), grey wagtail (scientific name motacilla cinerea, with cinerea being Latin’ish for ashy-grey) is mostly grey on its top-side, with black wing feathers and a white horizontal eye-stripe complete with a bib that is black (male) or white (female and juvenile). What sets it out from the pied wagtail (which confusingly is also mostly grey) is the yellow on the breast and belly. Yet it couldn’t be called yellow wagtail, because that name was already taken by the yellow wagtail, which is mostly yellow all over. Are you confused yet? My previous sightings of grey wagtail were restricted to one in a garden at Wannock, and a food-carrying adult to a next in the moat at Herstmonceux Castle, undoubtably on the way to its nest to feed hungry youngsters. The species are associated with water, usually much faster flowing than the almost stationary moat waters of the castle (and some people call the species “water wagtails”) but do watch out for them in and around town, maybe check out the path around the Common Pond when you are next there – that wagtail may not be the more numerous pied wagtail after all.

Pic: Credit Kit Day/Alamy

[First printed November 2021]

SPOTTED!

Wildlife in (and around) Hailsham

by Tim Fox

At around about this time of year, the lavender and other stemmy plants develop webs as our Common Garden spiders set up home to feast and fatten up ready to lay eggs (that will bring us next year’s spiders), before dying off in the cold weather. Also known as Cross (or Crowned) Orb Weaver or Diadem Spider, araneus diadematus, the species can vary in colour from a light brown to a dark grey, but the most prominent feature (apart from having eight legs!) is the white cross upon its back, which is the origin of the name Cross Orb Weaver. Diadematus in the name relates to another prominent feature which is the prominent bulge on the head of the spider, which someone thought looked like a crown and, with a diadem being a type of crown, the name stuck.

They spin a delicate but deliberate structure starting at the outside with the anchor points, building a frame, and then working in ever-decreasing circles towards the centre of the web where she will sit, head down, awaiting breakfast, lunch and dinner to be ensnared on the vertical trap. We have both light and dark variations in the front garden this year, proving quite a distraction as they slowly but methodically repair the web when a bumble bee has flown through, or quickly wrap their latest meal in silk ready for the juices to be sucked dry. I mention that “she” sits in the centre of the web since, whilst male spiders can spin webs, they are mostly nomadic and out looking for “love”, and so a web, which is a heavy investment in time and energy, is wasted on them.

I was fortunate to spot a male at the edge of one of the ladies’ webs this year – a noticeably much smaller abdomen, and with stripy and much longer legs (all the better for running after prey). He was tolerated for the day, but I noticed in the evening that he had disappeared, and I’m not sure if he chose to leave, or he found “love” and, after the act, became dinner. It does happen.                                                                                                                             Pic: Credit Tim Fox

[First printed October 2021)

SPOTTED!

Wildlife in (and around) Hailsham

by Tim Fox

I took the plunge this year in attending one of the many outdoor keep fit sessions held around the Hailsham area. For me, still stuck working from home 100% of my working time, not only is it a chance to get out of the house for some fresh air, along with face-to-face socialising (at suitable distance) and getting some of my 150 minutes weekly exercise, it was also an opportunity to go birding somewhere new. I saw my first and last swifts of the year at Tuesday evening sessions at Western Road recreation ground and, over the course of three months clocked up another 21 species, including greenfinch.

Greenfinch (scientific name chloris chloris, derived not from the mythological nymph Chloris but instead from Greek Khloris meaning, amongst other things, green) used to be a common site on our birdfeeders but, as with chaffinch, their population dropped significantly from 2006 onwards due an outbreak of the parasite trichomonosis gallinae, the infected birds suffering with swelling in the neck; eventually they die of starvation as they cannot swallow food.
About the same size as a house sparrow, but with less variable plumage, the male is a bright olive green, the females and young closer to brown, with all of them showing yellow bands in the wing. The beak is conical and heavy looking, which is great for cracking open seed shells, including sunflower.

In Spring, there is usually one tweeting and trilling away in the top of the trees of Cortlandt (stop number 11 on the Hailsham Heritage Trail), and sometimes I am lucky enough to hear one fly over home but, one Tuesday evening recently, whilst flat on my back doing bicycle crunches at Western Road, I was treated to a family flyover with one adult being chased by three hungry offspring all demanding to be fed. I’m sure Andrea (the instructor) didn’t notice me miss a few peddles as I enjoyed the avian spectacle.

Tim can be found most Saturday mornings gracing the airwaves with Pat Bradley on 95.9 Hailsham FM, discussing local happenings between 8 and 10am.

Pic: Credit Wikimedia Commons

SPOTTED!
Wildlife in (and around) Hailsham
By Charlie Peverett

When you imagine a kingfisher, where do you imagine it being? Hovering over a wide, slow-moving river? Darting along a crystal-clear stream? Or perhaps sitting beside a secluded pond, deep in the countryside.
Kingfishers are not romantics. While they can be found in any of those wild places, what they’re really interested in is the fish. They seem to be finding plenty of those in Hailsham Common Pond, with at least two being seen there lately.
Though their colours are bright, especially for a British bird, they can be remarkably tricky to see. They can sit still, tucked into branches at the waterside, for long periods. And when they fly it’s fast and low over the water. The flash of electric blue along the back is unmistakable, but blink and you’ll miss it.
The easiest way to set your eyes on a kingfisher is to start with the sound. They have a high-pitched piping call, like a dog whistle, which they make when they fly. It’s usually this that gives you some warning one is about to speed past. And if you’re lucky it will land somewhere you can still see it.
The side of the Common Pond they like best is between the reed and the islands. Sit on a bench by Bellbanks Road for ten minutes, especially early in the morning when it’s quiet, and you stand a good chance of catching a glimpse.
Meanwhile as the nights draw in the redwings will begin to arrive. In the cold last winter, more redwings were seen in our gardens and parks than usual. A little bunch could be found in the trees by the Cortlandt building on George Street for several weeks.
If the weather’s not so severe this season we won’t see many in town again, but they are among the most reliable birds that you can hear on autumn nights, wherever you are, as they migrate from Russia and Scandinavia.
On a still, clear evening around Bonfire Night, listen out for their neat ‘seep’ calls as they pass through invisibly overhead.
Charlie Peverett

Charlie lives in Hailsham with his family and works for Rewilding Britain. You can find him on Twitter as @cuckootrailer.

Credits: Kingfisher – Flickr user Jason Thompson, reproduced under Creative Common licence CC BY 2.0
Redwing – Flickr user Dornenwolf, reproduced under Creative Commons licence CC BY-SA 2.0

[First published October 2018]