Flaming June

June is upon us, and today was exactly what you would expect. Hot and sunny with no birds.

To be fair, there were plenty of birds of course, just no migrants. The Little Grebes have settled in and are now nest-building. Dave and I also saw two family parties of Blackcaps, a family of Long-tailed Tits, a definite female Cuckoo (it did the bubbling call), a pair of Ravens, and a newly arrived pair of Mute Swans.

A photo-tick became available when I found that the House Martins were collecting mud.

82. House Martin

Meanwhile, although there were no waders etc on the flash, the Coots were engaged in a territorial Mexican stand-off.

The summer's saving grace is the the insects. Although we didn't see too many butterflies, we did better with the odonata. Several Beautiful Demoiselles and one Banded Demoiselle flew by, and at least one Four-spotted Chaser was also present. None of these was available for a photograph, but the Broad-bodied Chasers were more co-operative.

A female Broad-bodied Chaser

A male Broad-bodied Chaser

I spent a frustrating half hour trying to get shots, conscious that I was irritating a pair of Sedge Warblers which had a nest somewhere on the other side of the pool, and also Dave, who decided he might as well head home.