Friday 25th march 2005 Pegwell Bay
Quite a few Butterflies at Pegwell today which included a Red Admiral.
(Phil M)
Wednesday 23rd March 2005 Chambers Wall - Minnis
Bay
Superb conditions, for late March, resulted in a nice
bunch of records as we walked around the area. Plenty of Peacock and
Small Tortoiseshell butterflies on the wing, as were several
"Ichneumon" wasps (sp?) There was also a constant stream of
Bumble-bees, all headed east, particularly obvious along the sea-wall.
As we have no idea as to the population dynamics, or behaviour, of these
insects, it is a complete mystery as to why so many (100's) of individuals
would be travelling in a specific direction! As they were all seen in
flight, no species could be id'd. A couple of plants that we saw were of
interest. Large clusters of Coltsfoot, beside the Wantsum, and two
Rosemary plants, in flower and attracting several flying insects, along
the railway embankment. A fantastic, good to be alive day, walking around a
wonderful part of East Kent. (Gadget, Frank & Dylan)
Friday 18th March 2005 Pegwell Bay
A few Small
Tortoiseshell, 2 Peacocks and a Stoat at Pegwell this
morning. (Phil M)
Thursday 17th March 2005 North
Foreland & Grove Ferry
1 Comma North Foreland Lighthouse Garden.
1 Small Tortoiseshell at Grove.
(John W)
Wednesday 16th March 2005
North Foreland
there were a few Bumble Bees
around the cliff tops today. (Gadget)
Friday 11th March 2005
Crab update
If anyone wants to see the scale of the recent crab
mortality, a walk along the tide line from Foreness to Walpole Bay should be
sufficient, although it can also be seen along the Eastern Esplanade at
Broadstairs - there are tens of thousands of shells washed up into huge
piles and elsewhere are great deposits of claws and legs. It demonstrates
the influence of the tidal currents on the distribution of the corpses
around the coast - the crabs almost certainly didn't all come from the areas
where they ended up being washed ashore! As the Environment Agency have
finally decided that this incident is worthy of investigation, I await their
findings with interest. (Dylan)
Wednesday 9th March 2005
Richborough Castle & Gazen Salts NR
A Fox was watched grooming on the steep hillside
below Richborough Castle and Gazen held good numbers of Grey Squirrels
along with a few Sweet Violets, Lesser Celendine and my first
Primroses of the spring! (Dylan)
Tuesday 1st March 2005
Letter from Naomi – Thanet Coastal Project
I forwarded the details of the findings to the
Environment Agency and to the Kent & Essex Sea
Fisheries. Both organizations advised that they
would expect any sort of pollution to be fairly easily detected, but as
there were no signs of oil, strange smells, discoloration of the sea etc,
then they would put it down to natural causes. They both expect that last
night's air temperature of -7 degrees combined with recent strong winds have
washed all the crabs in. The Kent & Essex Sea Fisheries advised that there
has been no boat fishing around the area for some time, so it would not be
down to that. The EA won't come to test the crabs in this instance, but are
really keen to be kept up to date if anything else happens or if there are
any signs of pollution present.
Thank you very much for contacting me on this matter (Naomi)
Tuesday 1st March 2005
Dumpton Gap
I had to go back to Dumpton Gap if for
nothing more than to make a positive id of the crab species involved in
yesterday's spectacular mortality. The majority of the shells and limbs have
now washed up along the high water mark where as, yesterday, they were in
amongst the pools of the marine chalk reef. I can confirm that the species
involved was the Velvet Swimming Crab and I am now also convinced
that this was a consequence of a natural event (almost certainly linked to
the breeding cycle) and nothing more sinister. Still a few intact dead and
dying individuals, but the gulls and Turnstones seem to have
dismembered the vast majority. I walked as far as the Tartar Frigate and saw
the remains of crabs all the way along the coast. The numbers of
individuals involved must have been in the thousands! On a positive note -
at least my beloved gulls didn't go hungry during the cold snap! (Dylan)
Monday
28th February 2005 Broadstairs to Ramsgate Harbour
Hopefully today's news is not that significant. I
walked along the coast from Broadstairs to Ramsgate Harbour. Apart from the
bizarre experience of watching a Buff-tailed Bumble-bee flying in the
snow showers, it was the spectacle of thousands of dead and dying crabs
(mainly Velvet Swimming Crabs, I think?) washed up along the
shoreline that provided a bit of mystery. Knowing the state of the moon
these could be post breeding fatalities otherwise they are a result of a far
more worrying pollution incident. Naomi, at The Thanet Coastal Project, has
been notified and we will post news of her findings when we receive them.
Samples are to be sent away for post mortem examinations. (Dylan)
