Pied Shieldbug

Among a large range of insects at Bassenhally Pits.

Pied Shieldbug Sehirus bicolor

Canon Powershot A640

Little Gull

Fairly uneventful morning until this appeared feeding with Black-headed Gulls on the washout pit south of the cut at Etton.

Little Gull Larus minutus

Digiscoped with Canon Powershot A640 and Leica APO77 x32

Dragons

The northwest corner of the King's Dyke complex had a few sunny areas rich in nettles and protected from the wind where Azure Damselflies were swarming in numbers. Also one Variable, a couple of Common blue and a Blue-tailed Damselfly here plus two Four-spotted Chasers and a Hairy Dragonfly. Other insects included plenty of Orange-tips, Nettle-tap moth and the hoverflies Baccha elongata and Rhingia campestris.

Hairy Dragonfly Brachytron pratense


Fout-spotted Chaser Libellula quadrimaculata


Digiscoped with Canon Powershot A640 and Leica APO77 x20

More Maxey Action

Temminck's Stint Calidris temminckii





Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius


Digiscoped with Canon Powershot A640 and Leica APO77 x32

Chocolate-tip

Getting a few moths now with the warm weather. Only a handful of precious records of Chocolate-tip for the garden.

Chocolate-tip Clostera curtula

Canon Powershot A640

Hills and Holes

Hot day at Barnack with Common Lizards and many insects about including quite a few moths flying in the day (I see more normally nocturnal moths in the day here than anywhere): Common Carpet and Green Carpet at least. Day flying leps included Common Heath, Peacock, Brimstone and plenty of Green Hairstreaks. Single Hairy Dragonfly and Large Red Damselfly.

Green Hairstreak Callophrys rubi


Pasque Flowers Anemone patens


Early-purple Orchid Orchis mascula


Canon Powershot A640

Sedge Warbler, Nene Washes

Sedge Warblers always sing from vegetation.

Sedge Warbler Acrocephalus schoenobaenus

Digiscoped with Canon Powershot A640 and Leica APO77 x32

Insects at last

A fine sunny and, most importantly, warm weekend has finally brought the insects out in force. Many butterflies about and some moths in the trap on Sunday night. The bluebells and the longhorn beetle were at Shire Hill Lodge Woods on Saturday.

The Andrena bee is one of many nesting in the garden lawn along with it's wasp-like Nomada cuckoo seen disappearing down one of its hosts' burrows.

Bluebells Hyacinthoides non-scripta


Rhagium mordax (Black-spotted Longhorn Beetle)



Andrena sp. A mining bee


Nomada sp. A cuckoo bee


Canon Powershot A640

Greenland Wheatear, Maxey

Clearly a very different bird from yesterday. Another female but the orange colour a shade browner and extending to most of the underparts. A bulky, 'chesty' looking bird indicative of the Greenland race.

Greenland Wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe leucorhoa, female


Digiscoped with Canon Powershot A640 and Leica APO77 x32