Today I caught up with a few Blue-tailed Damselflies, same as two days ago but this time with a camera in hand. A Large Red Damselfly, usually the first odonata of the year, was present and took off to catch an insect but vanished before I could press the shutter. Searching the usual sunny spots showed a continuingly worrying lack of Bombus (only two species and few individuals) and not a lot else but this Epistrophe hoverfly (below) turned out to be melanostoma thanks to FB expertise and a new species for me. The Swans seem to have kept all eight cygnets so far but only two Coot chicks seem to have survived so far.
No aerialists at all today and Sunday's kite-fest from east Sussex to Cornwall (306 passed Marazion!!) failed to produce a single bird here.
On the bright side, just as I thought it was getting too late in the spring, a Reed Warbler started singing a few yards away from the larger of the two very small patches of reed, climbed up into view and chased a second bird off. Fingers crossed one or both might pair up.
No sign of any Peregrine activity between dawn and dusk for a few days now so presumably moved on elsewhere for roosting. And the Peregrines at Chichester hatched out the expected brood of four all out two days at least before my guesstimate of yesterday!
Oh, and part of the next few days entertainment from Amazon below with some new music for the first time in ages, Miranda Lambert's Wild Card.
