Willow Emeralds at Strumpshaw

After another scrummy barbecue supper, Linda and I took a walk in the evening sun around the Fen: apart from Tina and James from the Bure Valley group we had the place to ourselves!

First stop was 'the Ditch' where we eventually located two Willow Emeralds skulking in the foliage: great to see after 12 months! There were Migrant, Brown, Southern and even a few Norfolk Hawkers patrolling the rides: still plenty of Scarce Chasers too!  Star insect for us was the mint-fresh Painted Lady we found along Lackford Run. Lots of other butterflies tonight: Commas, Red Admirals and Peacocks were the most abundant.

A quick ten minutes in Tower Hide produced distant views of two Garganey and two Greenshank.

The walk back along Sandy Path was interrupted by this strangely-patterned raptor: presumably a Marsh Harrier...