Insects

Mother Of Pearl moth, HGF

Common Blue Damselfly, HGF

Cinnebar catterpillars on ragwort, HGF

Moulting drake Pochard, HGF

Shovelers, HGF

Meadow Brown, HGF

Painted Lady, HGF

Ragged looking Gatekeeper, HGF

Red-tailed Bumblebee, HGF

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A nice sunny day for a change and insects galore. The most common appears to be Painted Ladies at HGF, they are everywhere. Lots of other things around though - the area behind he east hedge, which is overgrown, is lifting with insects including those bloody horseflies!

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HGF today was quiet and still. The second juvenile Black-necked Grebe has vamooshed, however six Shovelers came in for a while. They were obviously testing out new flight feathers and spent time doing circuits of the area before landing back down. By Midhops 196 Lapwings were feeding in the bare field and the usual large numbers of Swallows were joined by four House Martins and a couple of Swifts. I suspect virtually all of the local Swifts are on their way back to Africa now and any future birds are liable to be passage birds.

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A very large flock of House Sparrows was around HGF today - at least 70 birds. Time was I used to get this number in the back yard 30 years ago - not today. I did get 21 in the garden today which is a good number - a Great Spotted Woodpecker was also hanging around. Back at HGF a large group of Long-tailed Tits (around 35 birds) flew bouncily over the wheat field. It always seems odd to see a flock of these birds flying relatively high and out in the open. You can hear them coming from a mile away! A Buzzard was also skulking behind the east hedge - I ended up flushing the bird when I went round the back looking for butterflies.