Sunday June 17

A rather cloudy morning with a moderate south-westerly breeze. Its the time of year when everything is settled and breeding. We saw the first brood of Tufted Ducks on the pond at Clowse Farm and plenty of evidence of recently fledged passerines.

In fact readers of a nervous disposition should be advised that this post contains scenes of a sexual nature which some may find upsetting.

Before we get to that, the emphasis was on trying to find new insects for the year. As far as butterflies are concerned only about six Ringlets were new. The skippers were all Large Skippers (about 20), the browns all Meadow Browns (about 20), Small Heaths (about eight), and one or two Speckled Woods.

Ringlet

As for dragonflies, it was a similar story. The best was a single Brown Hawker which, due to the cool weather and probably it's recent emergence, was very easy to photograph.

Brown Hawker

We also saw about 12 darters (all Ruddy Darters) and numerous damselflies including about 30 Common Emeralds, about 20 Azures, a few Commons, a Beautiful Demoiselle and two Banded Demoiselles.

Now for some very brazen mammals.

Brown Hares

The field behind the pool was full of frisky Brown Hares, and we also disturbed a Roe Deer calf and a Muntjac.

Another feature of the day was hundreds of amphibians, almost all tiny Common Toads, crawling through the grass. There was also at least one Common Frog.

Toadlet

There was at least some evidence of bird migration to keep us birders happy. Two Green Sandpipers at the Flashes were the first  of the "autumn" and a pair of Little Ringed Plovers have reappeared now that the water-level is receding there.