This was about all I could salvage from a brief, local outing today as I'd inadvertantly put the Lumix m4/3 camera into 4k mode; perhaps the overly rapid shutter firing should have been a clue!! Still, this female hoverfly Volucella bombylans was nice to see in its red-tailed form mimicing Bombus lapidarius; and a Xanthogramma pedisequum was also smart but both were trumped by Helophilus trivittatus, a species I don't see too often - these were the best of ten species seen. The cooler weather may not suit butterflies and Odonata but it certainly helped with finding hovers.
Curiously, at the start of the walk, yet another blank for Reed Warbler in the small reed patch, but one was singing a few hundred yards further on, from the roadside scrub adjacent to the derelict pond liner and in habitat much more suitable for Blackcaps. Go figure!!
Two new families of Moorhen, two and three strong, were only days old but the sheer volume of dumped bird seed nearby ensures the Brown Rat population doesn't go hungry!
Meanwhile the typically bad-tempered cob swan spends all its time chasing off the hapless Canada Geese; not sure if last week's targeted individual survived the onslaught.
Colour-wise the yellow of flag iris is now being swamped and replaced by the first Purple Loosestrife and a small patch of Ragged Robin.
Finally, it was good to use the WWT's online visitor application to book a 'social distance' visit next week, the first for three months and a similar visit the following day to Hinton Ampner gardens - flask of coffee and packed lunch are order of the day for both.
