Friday August 5

A sunny morning and an early start. The temperature rapidly warmed so I was able to see plenty of insects as well as good numbers of birds.

The area behind the pool produced a Whinchat, about 90 Goldfinches, and about 15 Linnets. The pool itself harbouring two juvenile Little Grebes despite the falling water level. At the flash field I quickly noticed that there were two Little Owls on show, and one one of them was clearly a juvenile.

Juvenile (on left) and adult Little Owl

The nearest flash contained 56 Lapwings, six Green Sandpipers, three Teal, and a juvenile Ringed Plover. This was quite a fillip, being a species which averages one occurrence every two years. The bird remained at the back of the flash, so I'm afraid the photos aren't up to much.

Juvenile Ringed Plover

I was hoping to add some passerine migrants, and although there was nothing new, diligent logging produced a record accumulation of 17 Common Whitethroats, as well as three Blackcaps, and a Sedge Warbler.

Regarding insects, I finally managed to photograph some of the Brown Hawkers, and also Red Admiral, and several tiny grass moths of two species. I'm unfortunately not yet sure which species they were though.

Brown Hawker

Red Admiral

Common Darter

Agriphila tristella - Common Grass Veneer

Agriphilla sp (possibly straminella) - Straw Grass Veneer

Finally, a bit of a postscript. Lyn and I went to Hillers Garden Centre in the lee of Ragley Hall woods where I spotted a large Fritillary. Frustratingly it only landed very briefly before I lost it, so I was able to rule out Comma. I am pretty certain it was a Silver-washed Fritillary, but I probably didn't quite nail it.