Sunday June 14

A sunny start, but soon clouding over. Dave opted for another look at the Melodious Warbler, so I was on my own.

I decided on a bit more surveying, noting that the Reed Warblers have disappeared again. On my way to the flashes I spotted a distant Hobby hawking over trees just over the ridge of the field behind the pool. The recent rain has half filled the nearest flash, which contained a Redshank, while the vegetation obscuring the further flash has grown another half inch.

Walking back along the streamline I was keeping my eye open for the Hobby in case it was perched in one of the ashes, and I got lucky.

The adult Hobby

It had been sitting with its back to me, and I got a shot when it turned its head before it flew off in a panic. A few more butterflies were out, and I recorded Speckled Wood, Small Heaths, Peacock, and my first Red Admiral, Meadow Brown, and Large Skipper of the year.

Large Skipper

But the best was yet to come. I could see a few Swifts wheeling around, high in the sky, and decided to count them. I got to 14, when a Morton Bagot tick flew through them, a Common Tern. This was the first tern of any species I have seen here, although it's actually the second for the patch, Jon Yardley having seen one a couple of years ago. I decided to try for a record shot, so took three shots of sky. The problem being that the bird was too high up to be visible through my lens. Through the binoculars I could see that it had briefly circled with the swifts, and then continued languidly north.

I zoomed in on the images at the back of the camera, but could see only a few blurred Swifts, and was about to delete the shots when I discovered I had actually captured it in the second image, (either that or a passing gnat). So here it is, patch gold.

Common Tern (it's in there somewhere)