Pett Nature Notes: Mermaid's Purses

16 April 2014 Today I joined a load of kids on Easter holiday hunting for mermaid's purses on the beach at Rye Harbour. Sadly they have nothing to do with mermaids, they are the egg cases of sharks, skates and rays. The main ones found were Undulate Ray, Thornback ray and Catshark. Catshark is a small shark that paradoxically is a species of dogfish. I couldn't leave Rye Harbour without checking on the Mediterranean Gulls. These are hard to separate from the Black-headed gulls - the Black-headed gull has a black head (dark-chocolaty brown if you get a close look), a white eye ring, and a dark red beak. The Mediterranean gull has a black head, a white eye ring and a bright red beak. The most obvious difference is the extent of the black head which reaches down to the nape on the Med gull, but stops at the back of the crown on the Black-headed gull. The Med gull is much less raucous as well. There were plenty of Med gulls about as well as a healthy number of avocets.

Also in evidence were a lot of brambles with cocoons of brown-tail moth caterpillars (the two orange spots on the back are diagnostic). I also spotted an immature Garden Spider starting its web.