Thursday July 18

Early morning drizzle caused me to delay a bit, but I arrived mid-morning just as it stopped. The rest of the morning comprised sunny intervals and a very light westerly.

Some hedge trimming at Netherstead led me to walk straight to the flash field. It was great for newly fledged birds, including a family party of Pheasants and numerous tits and warblers, but nothing standout. At the flash field there was much Little Owl activity with one visible bird and at least one other calling. I'm sure this means they have bred successfully again.

Little Owl

About four Green Sandpipers were visible but there could easily have been more. Three juvenile Shelducks remain and can all fly, so the rest must have dispersed. Four Teal were the only new arrivals.

I again failed to find any White-letter Hairstreaks, and had to be content with looking at the numerous butterflies in the long grass. Essex Skippers seem more in evidence, but there are also plenty of Small Skippers.

One of the Marbled Whites seemed a little too confiding and I soon discovered this was because it was providing a white crab spider sp with its lunch.

Nature red in tooth and claw

The only notable dragonfly seen was a White-legged Damselfly, my second this year.

White-legged Damselfly

It was left to moths to provide the main interest. George drove me to a spot on his land where he said I could set a moth trap one evening, and before that I happened upon a couple of micro moths which were new for the year, the former also being a lifer. I refer to Eucosma camoliliana and Udea luealis.

Eucosma campoliliana

Udea lutealis

I had been worried that I can no longer hear grasshoppers, but today I was accompanied by the constant buzzing of crickets (Roesel's Bush-crickets) and also Meadow Grasshoppers.

Meadow Grasshopper

The contrast between our suburban garden (thick with garden flowers and long grass but hardly a butterfly or bee to be seen) and the wildflower rich borders of the fields owned by the Heart of England Forest at Morton Bagot is immense. It really is a wonderful place.