Today, a few Andrena flavipes hunkered down out of the inconvenient southerly wind, were the only insects in a quick tour of the south facing hedge. Unsurprisingly, no Beeflies here yet.
And these, some of 300 or so Brent in the sanctuary, will only be here for a little while longer with so many being seen by coastal watchers steadfastly ploughing their way back east in recent days.
Wednesday into Thursday saw the moth trap out at home. The small single-bulbed Heath trap surrounded by so many street lights (kept on all night) ensured a pretty minimal catch. In fact the trap was empty!! But luckily the fence panels held an Early Grey, three Oak Beauty, Small Quaker, Common Plume and Diurnea fagella. The first three species were the first in seven(!!) years here as I haven't run the trap earlier than May in recent years, and the latter was NfG/T.
Pulborough, Wednesday morning, started after the now rather too frequent Bacon Bap and coffee starter. The journey over and weather were a little better than the previous visit but still too cold and windy for 'mini-beasts'.
The Water Pipit was a little better and the Wigeon were out in numbers close in to the hide along with a single Oystercatcher (relatively unusual here). This Lapwing was paired up and mated in front of us; its other half was nest scraping. An earlier-present Spotted Redshank had gone to ground but a distant LRP, shadowing a nervous group of sixty Black'wits, was a nice addition to the the year - I'm guessing the first record of the year.
And this kite was cruising the south Brooks soon after a sub-adult male Marsh Harrier.
Finally, this Adder, male AA71 was in the usual spot and was the first sighting of him this spring.
With a little more time than usual I chose to spend the afternoon at Arundel WWT where a single Marsh Harrier, the male Peregrine and about fifteen Cattle Egrets were the best on offer. A few singing Chiffchaffs and the above flowers - Cuckooflower, Herb-Robert and Marsh Marigold - at least made in feel a little spring like. Sadly, I left it just a little too late to see the Great White Egret which left the reserve a few minutes before arriving at Scrape Hide. Like Pulborough earlier, the Snipe were very watchable as usual.
And or course this confiding male Mandarin brought a welcome splash of colour while checking out the barrel nest and rather vocal to boot.
