A very warm morning. Dave arrived and let me know that the breeding Stonechats we saw the other week were not the first breeding record for Warwickshire as I had thought. A student called Joe Parham had been in touch to let him know that a pair had bred at Bubbenhall Meadows near Coventry last year.
Oh well, second record for Warwickshire then. At least we were able to hear and record the Grasshopper Warbler in the Chat Field.
Several Meadow Brown butterflies are now on the wing, and we saw a few more Common Blues.
Seeing birds remains pretty tricky. Numerous warblers sang from dense cover, while the nearest flash is well on the way to drying up completely.
I remember when all this was water
One bird that announced its arrival onto my year-list for the patch was a Cuckoo. We didn't see it of course.
New dragonflies for the year included Black-tailed Skimmer, Banded Demoiselle, and White-legged Damselfly.
White-legged Damselfly
Black-tailed Skimmer
Banded Demoiselle
I potted a Yellow Shell moth at the raptor watchpoint intending to hand it to Dave, but he is taking social distances very seriously so this is the best way of showing him.
Yellow Shell
Finally, the dragonfly ponds are drying up, but the still moist exposed vegetation attracted four Small Tortoiseshells presumably to drink. This species is doing better this year, although still nothing like the numbers seen in my childhood.
Small Tortoiseshell
The summer recess is now in progress, so it will be insects all the way until August I expect.
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