(Ptychoptera spp, Black-tailed Skimmer, Volucella inanis x3, Oedemera nobilis, Reading matter including glittering green spine!!)
A couple of short walks again covering the same old ground and limited to about 3000 steps or less ( just over a mile) saw little change other than slightly cooler conditions due to the previous day and night's rain and thunder. Swifts were a little more obvious with seven or so high overhead and three Swallows were buzzing about. Two Cetti's were calling in the roadside scrub and there were enough 'hoo-eets' coming from the same area to assume that the odd Willow Warbler was heading south. A heard-only flyover Greenfinch was only the sixth this year!!
Butterflies limited to 5-7 (Whites and Skippers not checked) species and hovers to just 6 with the V.inanis above the best.
Swollen-thighed Beetles are now disappearing and being replaced in similar areas by Rhagonycha fulva. Finally, a couple of hawkers dragonflies over the pond were distant but probably Southern.
