A morning with sunny intervals and a light westerly breeze. The ornithological clock ticks from looking for migrants to confirming breeding...and being distracted by insects. I walked from Haydon Wood car-park along the Arrow as far as the northern edge of the sewage works. Don't let the phrase sewage works put you off. It was lovely.
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| The sewage is behind those trees |
I didn't have particularly high expectations of the birdlife, so was pleasantly surprised to hear singing Cuckoo, Garden Warbler, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, and Reed Warbler while actually seeing three Mandarins, a Shelduck, a Kingfisher, a Red Kite and a feeding flock of Swifts and House Martins, with a few Swallows and a Sand Martin chucked in for good measure.
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| Common Swift |
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| Red Kite slightly out of focus as usual |
As the morning warmed up, insects started to get my attention. A small collection of common butterflies; Speckled Woods, Orange-tip, Green-veined White, and Red Admiral, and better still two moths; Red Twin-spot Carpet and Maidens Blush. Its so nice to see them in the wild instead of in my moth trap.
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| Red Twin-spot Carpet |
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| Maiden's Blush |
I also saw my first odonata; two Beautiful Demoiselles. As I'm concentrating on rivers this year, I will start a dragonfly year-list for 2023.
I also can't help pointing my camera at any other insects which catch my eye.
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| A male Blotch-winged Hoverfly - Leucozona lucorum |
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| Common Dance Fly (probably) |
Summer is just around the corner.
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