Friday April 27 was a good day for wildlife at Arne! Despite a poor start, the weather improved a bit and there were some decent sightings out on the heath.

It was a bumper day for wheatears which probably came in on the weather fronts we are experiencing at the moment and Arne is always a favourite stop off point before they disperse to their upland breeding grounds.

The males are looking really smart at the moment and have a slightly exotic look about them. One sub-species of the wheatear amazingly migrates from Africa all the way up to Greenland to breed, which makes this one of the longest bird migrations in the world. In fact, it has to make a 30 hour non-stop journey across the Atlantic, which is remarkable for such a tiny bird.

A number of excited visitors also spotted one of our white sika deer. These are white morphs rather than true albinos as they don’t have pink eyes.

But the highlight of the day must have been the first hobby of the year on Coombe heath. It’s still a little early but they have started to arrive in the country so keep a look out for this elegant little falcon.

Our live webcam is now focused on our kestrel family. For those of you familiar with the reserve, you will remember the excitement of last year when we had four chicks successfully fledge. This year, the female is sitting on five eggs again and we are wondering how many will hatch.