Monday August 26

A late change of plan gave me the opportunity to get to the patch for the second day running. I initially began at Church Farm, but after my car filled up with wasps from a skip next to the church and I was then joined by one of the farm dogs I decided to give up and start at Netherstead Farm instead.

Inevitably I saw a few birds I missed yesterday, but in general I found the patch a little quieter. No Whinchats for example. I saw a photographer with a massive lens photographing one of the Tufted Duck broods, but our paths never crossed.

There were two significant additions from yesterday. A juvenile Shelduck flew in and started feeding on the left hand flash.

Shortly afterwards a flurry of wings announced the arrival of a decent flock of Teal. I counted 33, which was more like the sort of counts I should be getting. A couple of Grey Herons stalked around at the back of the flash, so I decided to snap one of them.

Butterflies started to show well as the day warmed up, and I saw Small Heath, Small Copper, and Common Blue in addition to the whites, Peacocks, and Small Tortoiseshells.

Back home, an afternoon of gardening with Lyn was reasonably productive, while our buddleia sported Large and Small Whites, six Small Tortoiseshells, Peacock, Comma, and a splendid Red Admiral.