30th of April: Spring at Last

At last, this morning we woke up to sunshine and warmth. The warm weather, combined with a southeasterly wind, brought in a number of migrant warblers. Over forty Willow Warblers were counted, along with the first Sedge Warbler of the season. We also estimated there to be 68 Wheatears on the point.

 Wheatear (Joe Cockram)

We spent some time looking at plants on the sand dunes. There is a fine display of Heath Dog-violet, Spring Vetch and Early Forget-me-nots. The most abundant flowering plant on the reserve at the moment is probably Danish Scurvy-grass. There are also a few flowering Thrift plants and a few patches of Spring Beauty and Sea Campion. However, there are not sufficient flowers to support many butterflies. We didn’t see any on our transect. However we did see a Small Copper and Small Tortoiseshell in the morning. The only other butterfly seen so far this season was a Peacock on the 20^th of April. In the coming months more and more flowers will come into bloom attracting more and more butterflies.

The pleasant conditions brought a number of visitors to the point today. More than we have seen for many days. It was nice to see lots of people enjoying the reserve. We would like to remind visitors not to enter fenced off areas in order to prevent disturbance to vulnerable nesting birds. Also, in the areas where dogs are permitted, we ask that they are kept on leads to reduce disturbance.

- Ajay