Yesterday, off to Blashford in the hope that the three Black Terns may still be present ..... but of course they weren't! Two second year Little Gulls were still knocking about but now just one male Goosander, no Goldeneye and four or more LRPs. At least one White Wagtail was just outside the hide. Some Welsh visitors had cracking flight shots of Colin the Cuckoo from last year and were back to Thursley today for more.

Probably 50:50 positive/negative comments regarding the usability of the new hide. The new signage, info boards, raised flower beds and species silhouettes make everything look smarter and more professional. Just need the Tern-Goosander path to open!!


Temperatures were high so the Ivy Lake hides were too uncomfortable (and mostly birdless) for anything but a short stay and the feeder station is now pretty much empty. The heat also ensured that most hovers and bees were keeping concealed although these conditions suited butterflies with all the usual species plus a Holly Blue, blown up and over reception, and two feisty Small Coppers on the lichen heath where also a Pyrausta pupuralis. A rustling under the gorse adjacent to a felt was almost certainly a Grass Snake. A Garden Warbler was singing unseen.


The one that almost(!) got away was a small fly which perched briefly whilst photographing some slime mould with attendant Anisotoma humeralis beetles and which I assumed was a non-hover - in fact, via FB, was a Brachyopa spp (scuttelaris maybe), something I'd not seen before and one of four species unidentifiable in the field and specialising in sap runs; worth checking for on next visit. Some Byturus spp (Raspberry Beetles) were on Dandelion and plenty of chiromids including Ablabesmyia spp were photographed.


Finally, a Sparrowhawk with prey disappeared into the trees with much subsequent calling so presumably a nest site.

Today, a breakfast outing to Hill Head with M, was a hot one with just a light breeze and saw a blizzard of Alder Leaf Beetles and tiny flies plus a few St Mark's Flies covering vehicles and people on the coast - the white cars and winnebagos looked like a scene from the 70s when there were still a few insects out there!!

Just seventy Turnstones, some now tortoiseshell, a few raucous Sandwich Terns and glistening Med Gulls; Sedge Warblers were heard only as was the Blackcap serenading us over breakfast.

First Large Red

Brachyopa spp