Today, Wednesday, saw the lockdown reach 100 days. The next few days will see some further relaxation but personally I'm sticking to '2 metres plus' for the foreseeable future. Since the last entry the weather has been variable, typically windy and pretty uninspiring. Unless suppressed there appears to have been little of interest within my usual 40 mile radius of home. Sadly the influx of Red-footed Falcons, Blyth's Reed Warblers and Rosy Starlings didn't reach Hampshire nor Sussex west of the Arun.
A few Swifts over locally moving south were nice to see but the many tens of thousands south past Yorkshire coastal watchpoints in recent days looked spectacular. Locally, it seems as if the Tufted Duck brood failed to survive and three broods of Mallard are struggling. A Reed Warbler was singing from the island rather than any patch of reeds and was just about audible with the song drowned out by vehicles and the strong wind.
The butterfly track still held a fair few Meadow Browns, rather more Small/Essex Skippers than last visit including this Essex above and a surprise Marbled White - common enough in various areas off island but this was the nearest to home I can recall. A few Tree Bumblebees, still some Andrena flavipes and the above unidentified species but little else of note.
The numbers of Swollen-thighed Beetles are falling and being replaced by Rhagonycha fulva (above) commonly known as Hogweed Bonking Beetle!!
And finally, checking the south-facing and sheltered hedge of Squirrel Wood produced the first two Volucella zonaria of the summer, both males with one above and a Helophilus pendulus.
