Friday 8 July 2016

Friday July 8

Sunny intervals and rather too breezy, but reasonably warm.

I headed for the flash field where I was pleasantly surprised to see a few more waders than of late, although the long grass still makes them hard work. The counts were 21 Lapwings, eight Green Sandpipers, a Little Ringed Plover, and a juvenile Redshank.

Three Lapwings with the juvenile Redshank
The presence of the Redshank is intriguing. It could fly, so was probably not home grown, but given the difficulty of watching the flash pools it is tempting to wonder whether it could have been hatched here and eluded me before it learnt to fly.

At least three Teal were also present, while I counted/estimated 105 Swifts which continue to dash back and forth over the unsprayed field. At one stage they went into mobbing mode, but the target of their anxiety turned out to be a Cormorant.

However, just after I had packed my camera away I noticed a Red Kite flying through the Swifts (which were ignoring it!) I still had time to get the camera out and get a terrible record shot before I lost the kite behind trees.

Red Kite
The wind was by now blowing the grass stems about, so photographing insects was hard work, but I still managed some decent shots.

Green-veined White
Bluebottle sp, probably Calliphona vicina
Noon Fly - Mesembrina meridiana

Greenbottle sp, probably Lucilia sericata
There were good numbers of dragonflies about, and these included a probable Ruddy Darter.

Drone Flies, possibly Tapered Drone Flies - Eristalis pertinax
I intend to try to check these Fly identifications with experts eventually.

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