A local amble on a sunny day..

Little to record, with diptera Urophora quadrifasciata (a fruit fly) and Zophomyia temula (a tachinid) the best of the first hour. The former was introduced to many US states thirty years ago as a 'biological agent' to combat knapweed. Still plenty of Cephus spp (pygmaeus? - a tyoe of wheat stem borer sawfly) on buttercups plus the odd Celypha lacunana, a micro-moth. Other than a chat with Kate and later a SDW through-hiker on his way to Winchester, there was nothing else of note with just the background songs of 4+ Firecrests over a coffee.

On the other side of the road Five-spot Burnet was the most numerous 'thing with wings' with a supporting cast of Common Blues, Small Coppers, Brimstones, Small Heaths and a single Grizzled Skipper. Various grass loving micro moths were 'kicked up' along with Silver-ground carpet and the odd Cinnabar.

Sat on the stile by the Oxenbourne access gate with the first Sparrowhawk for many weeks soaring overhead, singing Skylark, Yellowhammer, Whitethroat and Linnet plus at least eighty Med Gulls on the (now) very short sward adjacent to the sheep field.

 Later, a second Sparrowhawk was stirring up the local feral pigeons beyond the garden.

(Five-spot Burnet,  Grizzled Skipper,  temporary cafe/classroom and Urophora quadrifasciata)

The keeper of secrets and God's messenger.....

..... the Raven.

Saturday

Nice to catch up with Mark and Pat after a couple of years over a coffee on the terrace and earlier to meet the new H&TG for Saturday, Andy whose 'home patch' covers Worthing and Cissbury - http://www.ashdownonthewing.co.uk

On the reserve five Hobbies were on show with 2-3 each of Kestrel and Buzzard plus a single Red Kite all airborne together. Another family of Egyptian Geese (five young) were obvious but little else; and just eighteen Black'wits on the north brooks - presumably birds that didn't fancy the schlep to Iceland!

The dead wood by the feeders attracted a big queen Hornet looking for pulp and the vegetation around here and the play area was most productive for hovers.

A chunky looking female Adder slipped away from its sunning spot adjacent to the Grass Snake info board (!!) as I disturbed it walking by.

A few Small Heaths were the first of the year as were Brown Silver Lines and the soldier fly Chloromyia formosa.

Tuesday

In Chichester it was nice to see many bumblebees of five species, pretty much all on Nepeta, and featuring good numbers of B.vestalis; but sad that there was almost nil supporting cast from hovers other than a single

At least four Ravens were flying around and constantly calling, audible out on West Street and, for me, more incongruous here than the Peregrines, the female of which perched up above the nest box calling whilst the male plucked a small passerine nearby before dropping the meal off for her to feed to the chicks; he departed immediately.

Overhead maybe ten screaming Swifts.

Wednesday

The Daily Fail and co were predicting 'hotter than Ibiza' for the days ahead but today was chilly enough for a neck buff and waterproof coat and later the central heating was fired up for a couple of hours!

Whilst the Hemlock Water Dropwort is rocketing up and flowering there wasn't ANY obvious invertebrate life but the path side clearance of HWD at least allowed a couple of Southern Marsh Orchids to be accessible; elsewhere 80 or more included some 'Leopard' variety according to RC. The Broad-leaved Helleborine is peeking through now.

Lots of Ragged Robin and Yellow Flag were the standout colours today

The last week has been a bit something and nothing with a 'flower walk' led by RC at Titchfield providing something a little different and culminating, 'off piste', with a good number of Southern Marsh Orchids. A Cuckoo was calling on and off. Later, MF showed me phone shots of local Honeys whilst we both struggled to find any birds.

A chat with the girls at PB over the moth trap gave the first Poplar Hawkmoths of the year; I guess that everything would have been a year tick if there had been the opportunity to go through them!!

The advantage of 'four up' on Wednesdays now means we can split up, talk to different people and give me a bit more insect time on the heathland although its not too easy out there yet; Criorhina berberina was in almost the same bush as two years back, Chrysotoxum cautum was in the church path vegetation and Brachypalpoides lentus was NfR and in the play area hedge.
The micro moth Eulia ministrana was sunbathing and what was probably a Green Tiger Beetle skittered off down the path and crash landed in the leaf litter. Calling Spotted Flycatcher was good to see in Black Wood.

Alan, Chris and Juliet confirmed MP's earlier tweet that the stilts had indeed departed (and turned up at Wells the next day!). The Pink-footed Goose remained distantly on the North Brooks and there was just one remaining pair of Teal. Decent scope views of Cuckoo calling away in the Peregrine tree, two Hobbies and a Peregrine finished the day.

Later at Burton Pond plenty of all three chasers plus Banded Demoiselle and Red-eyed Damselfly brought the day total of Odonata to ten; sadly no Beautiful Demoiselle nor Downy Emerald. A massive queen Hornet was dogfighting with dragonflies, including a couple of Hairy Dragonflies, over the boggy pond. Several Tachina fera were sunbathing at various points.

Some cuckoo bees at Chichester were nice and I assumed B vestalis; MS on facebook seems to think B.sylvestris more likely. A 'sharp-tailed' bee was equally unphotogenic as were Lasioglossums. The Ravens were constantly vocal and the Peregrines were also screaming away.

Burton Pond - Scarce Chaser

Brachypalpoides lentus

Pebble Prominent

Southern Marsh Orchid

Orange Tip on Alkanet

As other birders and bloggers have been noting it gets harder to motivate oneself with a rapidly diminishing number of birds. Side effects are that unless you twitch or at least travel to different birding sites the year list remains pitifully low. But also, for any given day out, the opportunities for close encounters with anything other than the commonest birds become a real rarity. For me the few standout birds over the last year or so were:-

Temminck' Stint - almost invisibly far away

White-rumped Sandpiper - just as bad

White-tailed Eagle - FFS, it's enormous but at 1500 metres still a brown dot in a tree on 50x mag!!

Bonaparte's Gull - 400 yds plus.

The ONLY close quality encounters were with the two Farlington Short-eared Owls early last winter and the ubiquitous Blashford Bittern earlier this year.

In the formative years it was possible to deal with waning enthusiasm by taking up ringing and later going abroad, although the latter only served to underline how dire things were back home; then photography, but just how many Blue Tit pics do you need!!

More recently focussing a little more on hoverflies etc helped to fill the gap but as all birders know nothing compares to the adrenaline rush of a good bird at point blank range. Sorry, no amount of extra wings or legs makes up for a quality avian!

But in the last few years even insects are becoming harder to find.  On today's sunny May day, butterflies probably totalled a dozen individuals of five species, dragonflies probably 20+ of five species.

And precious few bees and hoverflies!!

Anyway, minor rant over and normal service resumed

So, this week started with a local walk producing nothing better than Melangyna cincta and another Brachyopa spp on the hoverfly front. The heat is such that even the few larger insects are disappearing into shade under leaves.

A couple of Tachina fera were not unexpected but the first pair of Myopa testacea for the year (mating but still being blown around in the breeze whilst holding on for grim death)  soon flew off as did the day's only Conops spp. Firecrest was the only notable songster.

The next day, a chat in the Meadow Hide with DS passed the time while scanning for the Pink-footed Goose - which did not appear. He provided some useful info on Alver Valley, which I really must visit, and and that Wood Whites were on the wing in Surrey, and this was confirmed the next day by his tweets with pictures from Tugeley Wood. Only sighting of note was a gynandromorph Orange Tip with only one orange tip, the left wing being 'female white' apparently already photographed and notified to Butterfly Conservation by DH.

Today saw Keith and I doing the rounds and being entertained by the Kestrels feeding their young close by, three Hobbies hawking high over the reserve and later a Roe Deer in the middle of North Brooks. A female Cuckoo 'bubbled' and later an adult flashed by the tea terrace over lunch.

Two (male and female) Beautiful Demoiselles and plenty of Four-spotted Chasers were new this year and there were many more Broad-bodied Chasers today including powder-blue males. A spider strolling across Black Pond was presumably a Pirate Otter Spider (Piraticus) or thereabouts.

 MP's Black Wood Spotted Flycatchers weren't playing ball and so the day ended with feet up, choc ice in hand and watching the bee hotel residents coming and going!!

Monday at Blashford saw the chance to get another look at the Bonaparte's and, with my eye in from last visit, it didn't take long to find but was still very distant; one of the 2cy Little Gulls was more obliging.

About eighteen hover spp included Ferdinandra cuprea; also plenty of Common Damselflies. The moth trap was virtually empty with just Clouded-bordered Brindle and two Lesser Swallow Prominents. A single Green-winged Orchid was the first I've ever seen here. Good to catch up with JW for the first time since the 'Ashdown eagle' back in 2014!!

Tuesday

Caught up with Andy and Terry where the highlight, in the absence of any wildlife, was the Bacon and Egg Sarnie!!

Then on to Whiteways briefly  - Rose Chafer, loads of Hairy Shieldbugs, single Merodon equestris and patches of Bugle.

At Lord's Piece (highlight, 'singing' Field Crickets) and Burton Pond (Speckled Yellow, Variable and Blue-tailed Damselflies). All but Whiteways had singing Firecrest.

Wednesday was wet but with lots of reported Black Terns it seemed best to head to Blashford where RC had reported seven; and all still present early afternoon along with six Turnstones, two each of Bar'wit and Grey Plover plus a single summer plumage Knot. A single Red Kite, 100+ Swifts and a Kingfisher zipping down Dockens Water were best-of-the-rest. A year-first Common Blue was blowing over the lichen heath spatting with Small Coppers.

Thursday, and variable weather, was a camera day with some 'Back to Black' (and white!!) in West Sussex - photos on other blog. A Peregrine, presumably the male, brought a meal in to the three chicks and the Ravens were again vocal but little else.

Friday at TH was on a flat calm tide which made finding the Long-tailed Duck off of Brownwich easy but it was very distant; a male Eider was much closer. The plants around the  restaurant pond were full of 'bumbles' including Tree and Early bees. Very few hovers other than Cheilosia on every butter up, two flyby Hairy Dragonflies and a nice fresh, obliging Broad-bodied. A Rhagio scolopaceus was perched, head down as always, on the same tree that I always see it on here each spring!

In MSH a brief chat with DC, leading a group, and just one Common Sandpiper (disappointingly the only migrant wader), a distant Hobby and ten or more Buzzards. An unplanned visit to PB the following day also produced  Hobby plus two Avocets, single Dunlin and the ubiquitous spring birdsong. Insects were nowhere to be seen!!

Most of a week...

Sunday, a drive to Aylings produced a couple of kites over the main road with one in the same place on return; a Willow Warbler singing on site was one of very few this Spring.

Monday was a mixed bag in Chichester, then Stansted, briefly at Farlington and finally a local walk.

Started with silent Peregrines; you wouldn't have known they were there.The Ravens on the other hand were non-stop calling. Today was the first decent day with no Bee Flies, few hovers and just some nice Tawny Mining Bees, Blue Mason Bee and unobliging Nomada spp.

At Stansted just Firecrest singing away and plenty of calling Med Gulls in a field being ploughed. Many Empis tesellata, some mating, and an ivy-clad stump was a nice natural bee hotel for Osmia bicornis.

A brief stop at FM felt like a cool summer day with low tide, high lake level and pretty much no birds although two Whimbrel were in close on the west side.

Locally, the Swans had moved off the nest eventually with seven or eight cygnets and just several Holly Blues zipping around.

Tuesday

Some new stuff today - Adela reamurella, (Green Longhorn Moth) and
Tatianaerhynchites aequatus (Apple Fruit Weevil), first Azure Damselfly of the year and first Eristalinus sepulchralis plus first few Myathropa florea; another Brachyopa spp was sunning on digitalis. The male Marsh Harrier, high and distant, Hobby and Peregrine plus two Sparrowhawks, a dozen Swift's and a handful of Swallows. For the first time Holly Blue was the commonest butterfly followed by Orange Tip and Peacock. Just Green-veined White to add. No dragons yet although the hobby was certainly catching some insects high up.

Good catch up with PP/RC over lunch, plenty of wader-tracking/ringing info

Wednesday

Six Whimbrel, one Peregrine and two Adders were the highlight plus time with 'newboy' Keith and a catch up with HK and wife, Lisa G and her partner and lots of visitors. On the way home a Raven was chased south over Whiteways by a crow. EDIT the Adders were identified as U11 (below) and AA1 (Big Al).

Thursday

A brief look at QECP was pretty heartbreaking with the access road area, so good for Vipers Bugloss and attendant bees, orchids, Chalkhill Blues etc,  now destoyed by dumping of spoil, tree trunks etc. Not a square inch remains. Elsewhere much other good hover areas have been eradicated. The lower bridleway has had its scrub removed; maybe the sawdust remains might provide some adder sunning habitat. Still no news on site re-opening date though. Maybe time to cancel yearly parking permit and spend time somewhere less f****d!

Plenty of Green Longhorn moths on the wing, just one Blue spp butterfly and one Small Copper. The dock was well populated with Green Dock Beetles and a Pyrochroa serraticornis (Red Cardinal Beetle) zipped past. One dead Slow Worm on the path with another very lively individual under corrugated iron. Birdwise nowt but typically wary Mistle Thrushes and audible Firecrests.

On Butser masses of Cowslips and Early Purple Orchids but not a single (obvious) insect. Some distant 'cuckoo-ing' was blown away in the breeze but seemed to come from the other side of Rake Bottom; just Whitethroats and Skylarks plus a distant kite. Highlight, easily, was a long chat with visiting Dutch tourists; Brexit, Exmoor, narrow country roads, parking charges, Sri Lanka, the very 'yellow' scenery - Rapeseed, Gorse, Cowslip etc.

Friday at TH produced first Xylota segnis, Baccha elongata and Cheilosia caerulescens of the year and also first Hairy Dragonflies, a mating pair in flight over Darter's Dip. A distant food pass from the harriers, now relocated to their usual site and a lone Wheatear on the beach.

Today after a lively 'tog' meet in the library a return to TH where yesterday's Bar'wit was now two and the injured Black'wit was still hobbling around the meadow. Both Lesser Whitethroats were still rattling away. A newly emerged Broad-bodied Chaser was in the scrub by the 'badger' and, a little further down in its usual location, an Anasymia hover (below) also NfY. Grammaroptera ruficornis was also seen; I think I recorded it here this time last year. Finally the flower bees holes in the tree rootplate adjacent to the centre entrance were being investigated by a Mourning Bee and one of the latter was again in the garden yesterday. A first queen Dolichovespula media (below) of the year was chewing wood off the Cottage Hide roof.