On and off patch

A couple of quiet days with little of note although a Great Spotted Woodpecker undulating across the field and disappearing over the road was a nice lockdown addition and only the second in two years. Additional freedoms mean there are now lots of people out sunbathing, standing around in groups blocking paths and pavements and pavement cyclists who seem happy to virtually rub shoulders with people they are passing. Soon it will be safer to drive out for a walk than stay local.

The/a Peg was so high as to be virtually invisible over the garden late morning and far too high to bother the local gulls and crows.

Below  - Large Red Damselfly, Xanthogramma pedisequum(agg) and the second of the two-in-a-box jigsaw.

Sunday saw a brief, early morning off-LDpatch outing on very quiet roads to the New Forest which yielded some species not seen since before lockdown such as Rook, Jay, Skylark, Woodlark (h/o), Stonechat, Stock Dove, Chaffinch and new-for-year a Cuckoo sat up well for long scope views. And, best of all, a Honey-buzzard. That was really unexpected, especially prior to 9am, and my first for nearly six years!! Two hugely distant dots might have been Gos but could equally have been bumblebees 200yds away!! And what was probably a Hawfinch flew through the scope and vanished behind trees in the blink of an eye. Five to ten Common Buzzards, three Swallows and a few Mistle Thrushes were the only noteworthy birds. On the way back, a raptor gliding away north of the motorway was probably a Red Kite. By now the local cycle track/pavement was absolutely jammed with people.