Sunday May 17

For the first time in two months Dave joined me for a stroll around the patch, socially distanced of course.

The sun shone for most of the time, and the temperature was warm enough to encourage songbirds to sing and insects to fly. So although the birds on offer were similar to last time, I felt a whole lot better. The new normal is very similar to the old normal here at Morton Bagot.

After quickly ticking off Swallow and House Martin for the patch year-list, we invested considerable time trying to see one of the three singing Reed Warblers and six singing Sedge Warblers which were largely hiding from view.

Sedge Warbler

Reed Warbler

Two male Tufted Ducks lurked on the Netherstead Hall moat, and the flash field served up a pair of Little Ringed Plovers and three Teal. Not a sniff of a passage migrant.

Happily the local damselflies are now emerging in numbers. Commonest were the Beautiful Demoiselles, but not too far behind were Large Red Damselflies, one of which persistently landed on my bald pate, much to Dave's amusement. We also recorded one or two Azure Damselflies, and Blue-tailed Damselflies.

Blue-tailed Damselfly

Large Red Damselfly

Azure Damselfly

Lepidoptera were less well represented, but we saw a dozen or so Small Heaths, and single figure counts of Small Tortoiseshell, peacock, Green-veined White, Orange Tip, Speckled Wood, and Brimstone, plus the first Cinnabar Moth of the spring.

Cinnabar

All the usual mammals were seen including a Muntjac which spent ages feeding away without any idea we were watching. It pays to be downwind.

Muntjac munching

No visit would be complete without a mysterious insect to ponder. Today's was some kind of caddis-fly I think.

Glyphotaelius pellucidus

Research is underway. It turned out to be easy to identify as a male Glyphotaelius pellucidus, quite a common and widespread spring emerging caddis-fly, but new to me nonetheless.