15th of September: Plants of the Point

This week saw the addition of the Blakeney Point Plant Atlas to our web-site. This wonderful piece of work is the result of many hours of plant studies carried out by Richard Porter between 1999 and 2012. He has catalogued all of the Point's plants, mapping their distribution and abundance. Richard has also spent much time travelling in the Middle East. He will be giving a talk at Cley Village Hall next week:

Travels in the Middle East
 Wildlife, history and culture

(Covering Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Socotra and Turkey)

Cley Village Hall, Wednesday 18th of September 7.30pm

Refreshments

Tickets £5 at door in aid of Cley Village Hall

On Saturday, 22 Little Egrets were seen in Blakeney Harbour. Small numbers are seen most days, but it is rare to see so many together in the harbour. The first time a Little Egret was seen on Blakeney Point was 24 years ago in 1989.

Little Egret in the harbour (Graham Lubbock)

On Wednesday the first Snow Buntings of the autumn were seen, these beautiful little birds can often be seen at Granborough Hill car park, Salthouse later in the year. On Thursday a juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker was spotted in the Plantation. These are rare on the Point with less than 15 sightings. They are essentially a sedentary species and so ones on the Point are more than likely continental immigrants. It was a pleasure to see -and hear- as it hammered away on the Sycamore. Another unexpected find was a dead Storm Petrel on the beach.

Snow Bunting

Yet another unexpected sighting was made this morning. We flushed a Buzzard from the Suaeda on Far Point, where it had been feasting on a Redshank.

As I type, the wind outside is howling and the rain is hammering on the Lifeboat House windows. Before the weather closed in, we undertook a low tide seal count: 903 Grey and 205 Common. Grey Seal numbers are building and in the second half of October they will start to pup. During the pupping season there will be reduced access on the Point to reduce disturbance to pupping seals and danger to visitors.

In other news, I have just been appointed as the new permanent Coastal Ranger. I am delighted to be a permanent member of the Norfolk Coast National Trust family and look forward to working at Blakeney through the changing seasons.

- Ajay Tegala (Coastal Ranger)