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Gibraltar Point, Lincolnshire
Gibraltar Point national nature reserve is an area of about on the coast of Lincolnshire, England. The reserve is owned by Lincolnshire County Council and East Lindsey District Council and is administered by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust. The reserve comprises two parallel ridges of sand dunes—the "east dunes" and the "west dunes"—separated by about half a kilometre (550 yards) of salt marsh; and an area on the seaward side with further salt marsh and sand, shingle and muddy beaches. The reserve extends for a distance of about along the coast, from the southern end of Skegness to the northern corner of The Wash (Gibraltar Point itself is at the southernmost tip, and marks the point where the North Sea coast turns southwest towards Boston). A golf course occupies much of the west dunes (the inland side) at the Skegness end of the area. Gibraltar Point is an area of coastal deposition—at the end of the 18th century the west dunes were by the shore, but they are now a k ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust
The Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, (part of the Wildlife Trusts partnership), covers the whole ceremonial county of Lincolnshire, England. It was founded in 1948 as a voluntary charitable organisation dedicated to conserving the wildlife and wild places of Lincolnshire and to promoting the understanding and enjoyment of the natural world. Description Its headquarters are at Banovallum House, Manor House Street, Horncastle. It has over 27,000 members and manages 95 nature reserves with a total area of . These include five main visitor-focused reserves used for educational purposes: *''Gibraltar Point National Nature Reserve'' opened in 1949 and was the first nature reserve to be purchased by the Trust. A reserve of sand dunes, salt marsh and brackish pools situated on the coast south of Skegness. Facilities include two car parks and a visitors' centre with a cafe, shop and toilets. *'' Far Ings National Nature Reserve'' opened in 1973. A reserve of lakes, reedbeds and meadows si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Site Of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man. SSSI/ASSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in the United Kingdom are based upon them, including national nature reserves, Ramsar sites, Special Protection Areas, and Special Areas of Conservation. The acronym "SSSI" is often pronounced "triple-S I". Selection and conservation Sites notified for their biological interest are known as Biological SSSIs (or ASSIs), and those notified for geological or physiographic interest are Geological SSSIs (or ASSIs). Sites may be divided into management units, with some areas including units that are noted for both biological and geological interest. Biological Biological SSSI/ASSIs may ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ringed Plover
The common ringed plover or ringed plover (''Charadrius hiaticula'') is a small plover that breeds in Arctic Eurasia. The genus name ''Charadrius'' is a Late Latin word for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century Vulgate. It derives from Ancient Greek ''kharadrios'' a bird found in ravines and river valleys (''kharadra'', "ravine"). The specific ''hiaticula'' is Latin and has a similar meaning to the Greek term, coming from ''hiatus'', "cleft" and ''-cola'', "dweller" (''colere'', "to dwell"). Description Adults are in length with a wingspan. They have a grey-brown back and wings, a white belly, and a white breast with one black neckband. They have a brown cap, a white forehead, a black mask around the eyes and a short orange and black bill. The legs are orange and only the outer two toes are slightly webbed, unlike the slightly smaller but otherwise very similar semipalmated plover, which has all three toes slightly webbed, and also a marginally narrower breast band ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Shelduck
The common shelduck (''Tadorna tadorna'') is a waterfowl species of the shelduck genus, ''Tadorna''. It is widespread and common in the Euro-Siberian region of the Palearctic, mainly breeding in temperate and wintering in subtropical regions; in winter, it can also be found in the Maghreb. Fossil bones from Dorkovo (Bulgaria) described as ''Balcanas pliocaenica'' may actually belong to this species. More likely, they are an extinct species of ''Tadorna'' (if not a distinct genus) due to their Early Pliocene age; the present species is not unequivocally attested from the fossil record until some 2–3 million years later (Late Pliocene/ Early Pleistocene). Taxonomy The common shelduck was formally named by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his '' Systema Naturae'' under the binomial name ''Anas tadorna''. Linnaeus largely based his description on "The Sheldrake or Burrough-Duck" that had been described and illustrated in 1731 by the English ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Little Tern
The little tern (''Sternula albifrons'') is a seabird of the family Laridae. It was formerly placed into the genus ''Sterna'', which now is restricted to the large white terns. The genus name is a diminutive of ''Sterna'', "tern". The specific ''albifrons'' is from Latin ''albus'', "white", and "frons", ''forehead''. The former North American (''S. a. antillarum'') and Red Sea ''S. a. saundersi'' subspecies are now considered to be separate species, the least tern (''Sternula antillarum'') and Saunders's tern (''Sternula saundersi''). This bird breeds on the coasts and inland waterways of temperate and tropical Europe and Asia. It is strongly migratory, wintering in the subtropical and tropical oceans as far south as South Africa and Australia. There are three subspecies, the nominate ''albifrons'' occurring in Europe to North Africa and western Asia; ''guineae'' of western and central Africa; and ''sinensis'' of East Asia (SE Russia to Japan, SE Asia, Philippines) and the nort ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Reed Warbler
The great reed warbler (''Acrocephalus arundinaceus'') is a Eurasian passerine in the genus '' Acrocephalus''. The genus name ''Acrocephalus'' is from Ancient Greek ''akros'', "highest", and ''kephale'', "head". It is possible that Naumann and Naumann thought ''akros'' meant "sharp-pointed". The specific ''arundinaceus'' is from Latin and means "like a reed", from ''arundo, arundinis'', "reed". It used to be placed in the Old World warbler assemblage, but is now recognized as part of the marsh and tree-warbler family (Acrocephalidae). Great reed warblers are medium-sized birds and are the largest of the European warblers. They breed throughout mainland Europe and the west Palearctic and migrate to sub-Saharan Africa in the winter. Great reed warblers favour reed beds as their habitat during breeding months, while living in reed beds, bush thickets, rice fields, and forest clearings during the winter. Great reed warblers exhibit relatively low sexual dimorphism, and both genders ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black-winged Pratincole
The black-winged pratincole (''Glareola nordmanni'') is a wader in the pratincole bird family, Glareolidae. The genus name is a diminutive of Latin ''glarea'', "gravel", referring to a typical nesting habitat for pratincoles. The species name commemorates the Finnish-born zoologist and explorer Alexander von Nordmann. Description It is long, with short legs, long pointed wings and a forked tail. It has a short bill, which is an adaptation to aerial feeding. The back and head are brown, and the wings are brown with black flight feathers. The belly is white and the underwings are black. Very good views are needed to distinguish this species from other pratincoles, such as the collared pratincole and the oriental pratincole which may occur in its range. It is marginally larger than the collared pratincole, and is shorter-tailed and longer legged. Although the dark underwing and lack of a white trailing edge to the wing are diagnostic, these features are not always readily seen i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Broad-billed Sandpiper
The broad-billed sandpiper (''Calidris falcinellus'') is a small wading bird. The scientific name is from Latin. The specific name ''falcinella'' is from ''falx, falcis'', "a sickle. Some research suggests that it should rather go into the genus ''Philomachus''. Description Broad-billed sandpipers are small waders, slightly smaller than the dunlin, but with a longer straighter bill, and shorter legs. The breeding adult has patterned dark grey upperparts and white underparts with blackish markings on the breast. It has a pale crown stripe and supercilia. In the boreal winter, they are pale grey above and white below, like a winter dunlin, but retaining the head pattern. Juveniles have backs, similar to young dunlin, but the white flanks and belly and brown-streaked breast are distinctive. Contact call is a dry, whistling “dree-it, dree-it” and a clicking “dik dik”. Distribution and habitat The broad-billed sandpiper is strongly migratory, spending the non-bree ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rustic Bunting
The rustic bunting (''Emberiza rustica'') is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae. The genus name ''Emberiza'' is from Old German ''Embritz'', a bunting. The specific ''rustica'' is Latin for "rustic, simple". It breeds across the northern Palearctic. It is migratory, wintering in south-east Asia, Japan, Korea, and eastern China. It is a rare wanderer to western Europe. It breeds in wet coniferous woodland. Four to six eggs are laid in a nest in a bush or on the ground. Its natural food consists of seeds, and when feeding young, insects. This bird is similar in size to a reed bunting. It has white underparts with reddish flank, pink legs and a pink lower mandible. The summer male has a black head with a white throat and supercilium and a reddish breast band. The female has a heavily streaked brown back and brown face with a whitish supercilium. She resembles a female reed bunting, but h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red-flanked Bluetail
The red-flanked bluetail (''Tarsiger cyanurus''), also known as the orange-flanked bush-robin, is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscicapidae. It, and related species, are often called chats. Habitat It is a migratory insectivorous species breeding in mixed coniferous forest with undergrowth in northern Asia and northeastern Europe, from Finland east across Siberia to Kamchatka and south to Japan. It winters mainly in southeastern Asia, in the Indian Subcontinent, the Himalayas, Taiwan, and northern Indochina. The breeding range is slowly expanding westwards through Finland (where up to 500 pairs now breed), and it is a rare but increasing vagrant to western Europe, mainly to Great Britain. There have also been a few records in westernmost North America, mostly in western Alaska, but one on San Clemente Island off the southern California coast. Descri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caspian Tern
The Caspian tern (''Hydroprogne caspia'') is a species of tern, with a subcosmopolitan but scattered distribution. Despite its extensive range, it is monotypic of its genus, and has no accepted subspecies. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''hudros'', "water", and Latin ''progne'', "swallow". The specific ''caspia'' is from Latin and, like the English name, refers to the Caspian Sea. Description It is the world's largest tern with a length of , a wingspan of and a weight of . Adult birds have black legs, and a long thick red-orange bill with a small black tip. They have a white head with a black cap and white neck, belly, and tail. The upper wings and back are pale grey; the underwings are pale with dark primary feathers. In-flight, the tail is less forked than other terns, and wingtips are black on the underside. In winter, the black cap is still present (unlike many other terns), but with some white streaking on the forehead. The call is a loud heron-like croak. Distribu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pallid Harrier
The pale or pallid harrier (''Circus macrourus'') is a migratory bird of prey of the harrier subfamily. The scientific name is derived from the Ancient Greek. ''Circus'' is from ''kirkos'', referring to a bird of prey named for its circling flight (''kirkos'', "circle"), probably the hen harrier and ''macrourus'' is "long-tailed", from ''makros'', "long" and ''-ouros'' "-tailed". It breeds in southern parts of eastern Europe and central Asia and Iran and winters mainly in India and southeast Asia. It is a rare but increasing vagrant to Great Britain and western Europe. In 2017 a pair of pallid harriers nested in a barley field in the Netherlands; they raised four chicks, the first recording breeding of the species in the country. In 2019, a pair bred in Spain for the first time. This medium-sized raptor breeds on open plains, bogs and heathland. In winter it is a bird of open country. Description This is a typical harrier, with long wings held in a shallow V in its low fli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
