At last: some dragonflies!

An eight mile walk with Brian took in Horsey Mere, Winterton Dunes and Strumpshaw: quite gruelling, but enjoyable, nonetheless...

Horsey produced lots of Marsh Harriers and two groups of Cranes, totalling around nine. We glimpsed a couple of early Southern Hawkers, but nothing posed for the camera!

Winterton was pretty barren: some Small Coppers and a Meadow Brown, as well as the usual dozen Stonechats: what delicious little birds they are!

After tea and a scone, we dropped in at Strumpshaw: finally there were some Odonata on view! Lots of Norfolk Hawkers and Hairy Dragonflies, but only the former perched long enough for photos. We camped at Reception flower garden, but no sign of the recent Humming-bird Hawkmoth: a Twayblade and two Painted Ladies were some consolation!

Out and about: patchwork....

Well: despite what you might have read elsewhere, my experience locally suggests that it's been a bad Spring for wild flowers, birds and insects....

There have been few if any large Dragons at most of my usual sites (the Fen, Hemblington Woods, Upton etc) and butterflies have been very thin on the ground.

Our garden is full of baby birds, but we won't be getting any Turtles: our neighbours have cut down their nest tree for no obvious reason....

Help gratefully accepted!

While Brian and I were waiting for our boat across to Skomer last week, we came across a Pipit on the clifftop. It was as big as a Song Thrush and, although not particularly well-marked, had a super and darkish coverts.. We both failed to get really good images (it was a little nervy and in the heat haze!) but here are a couple. Any constructive help gratefully received! I thought perhaps Rockit? The Mipit is for comparison!

 

I've added a few more images: the most interesting is the distant view of Grassholm. The white 'crust' is entirely made up of Gannets!

 

Dilemma!

What I assume is a Queen Hornet has been going in and out of a hole in a dead tree in the garden: do we block up the hole to discourage her, or not?

My instinct is not: I find Hornets to be wonderful creatures! We'll see how things develop!



Welsh trip!

Brian T and I dashed across to Pembrokeshire in order to spend a day with Puffins on Skomer! Despite a seven hour drive each way we had a great time, largely because of
a) The fantastic weather   and
b) The fantastic B&B we stayed at: it was so good I'm going to put a link to it with photos!

Skomer was tiring but - for me at least - photographically productive: I think Brian was a little disappointed not to get a classic 'Puffin with sand eels in flight' shot....

Highlights were Ravens, Choughs, Guillemots (including a nice 'bridled' example) and Razorbills. We also saw several Peregrines and found a juvenile on its nest ledge.

Everywhere we drove from Cambridge to Wales and back we saw Red Kites and Buzzards: funny to think on my first Skomer trip thirty years ago they'd have been top of the wanted list!

A hundred grand!

At some point today the 'visitor count' on Birds of the Heath will reach 100,000!

Many thanks to everyone who takes a look from time to time and to all those great birders who've made the past years such fun (most of the time!)

David

Swallowtails! Must be Summer!

 A very brief window of opportunity saw me walking anti-clockwise around the Fen, starting at 'the Dr's Garden'

A mint-fresh Swallowtail was nectaring feverishly, so it seemed rude not to take a few pictures! From there I carried on along Lackford Run: just a few of the commoner blue damsels. The riverside was more productive, though, with a couple of gorgeous Scarce Chasers.

I walked around the meadow and through the woods, but nothing else came out to play.

The drive home past Hemblington Church produced a dapper pair of  Yellow Wagtails and a Hobby!