Brought the sun and the flowers
Where there used to be rain..
A painless journey to Blashford on what promised to be a nice day after yesterday's wind and rain. Staff and volunteers were putting tern rafts out and within no time were attracting several pairs of BHGs!! Moth trap again pretty uninspiring but there was a Pebble Prominent near the top. A few new bits and bobs namely Hairy Shieldbug (Dolycoris baccarum), a fly awaiting ID and a teneral type Common Damselfly. Andrena barbilabris was again present and a few worker Bumblebees although I'm not sure which species plus a Sphecodes spp (monilicornis maybe) was investigating bee holes by the single gorse bush at the entrance in company of a few Bee Flies. A Phaonia spp possibly subventa also sat up for a photo. Butterfly-wise this Green Hairstreak, not the most cooperative hiding low down in the vegetation, was the highlight being new-for-the-reserve-and-year for me. A female Orange Tip also sat up nicely for pictures although the males were less obliging.
Lunch and a long chat with Keith.
At Tern Hide a cracking Bar-tailed Godwit, sadly not summer plumage, was close but the twenty or so Black-tailed, mostly coloured up, were sleeping off to the right. S/P Dunlin, Common Sandpiper and three LRPs completed the wader lineup. After the last visit it was strange to not see a single hirundine nor Swift.
