10th -11th June

A couple of showery days at Spurn didn’t produce too much with a Short-eared Owl floating round Clubley’s and the Triangle, several singing Cuckoos dotted around, two Green Sandpipers on the pond in Church Field (presumably very early returning adults), two 1st summer Little Gulls which dropped onto Kilnsea Wetlands, plenty of baby Avocets scampering around and the first few Swifts heading south.

Short-eared Owl

Avocets

Little Egret getting too close to some of the Avocet chicks!

Cuckoo

Reed Bunting getting himself sorted after a shower

Broad-bodied Chaser

A newly vacated Dragonfly larva cast - probably a Four-spotted Chaser or Black-tailed Skimmer, I'm sure it would be possible to tell if I did some research but I probably won't!

Wall Brown

The rarest thing I found - a Red-necked Footman along Peter Lane, only the second record for Spurn (it hasn't got much of a red neck I know!)

Early June

Yet again, not too much of ornithological significance to report with a little look at Whixall Moss producing plenty of breeding birds with Stonechats, Whitethroats, Reed Buntings and Curlew all with chicks / fledglings while two Hobbies hunted overhead; possibly of more interest was an interesting mixed singing Phylloscopus Warbler near the carpark with somewhat resembled an Iberian Chiffchaff although more research is needed! 
   A day on Anglesey, complete with heavy rain, thunder and lightening then produced a steady trickle of Manx Shearwaters and Auks drifting past Cemlyn Bay in the evening over the flat calm sea with several pods of Porpoises also offshore; there wasn't too much else of note with Yellow Wagtails, a flyover Redpoll and several Shelduck broods along the coast to Carmel Head.

Two moths which I can't remember seeing before with an Argent and Sable at Whixall Moss and a Burnet Companion at Wyke

There were good numbers of migratory insects on the Anglesey coast including quite a few Painted Ladies and literally hundreds of Diamond-back Moths, mirroring the huge numbers all around the coast at the moment

Silver-studded Blue

Four-spotted Chaser

Baby Shelducks

Curlew

Common Spotted Orchid

3rd - 4th June

Again, not too much of great import to relay with more surveying taking the fore but a little walk along my stretch of the River Teme on the 3rd produced all the regular birds including a young Dipper, a Kingfisher, Goosanders, a pair of Mandarin, Little Ringed Plovers and Common Sandpipers, Red Kites, Ravens, a couple of singing Redstarts and a couple of Spotted Flycatchers while both Beautiful and Banded Demoiselles were on the wing.

On the way back on the 4th we popped into Brockholes Gravel Pits close to Hereford where birds included a single Avocet (pretty scarce inland in the Midlands), at least 5 Ringed Plovers with a few pairs of Little Ringed Plovers and a second summer Mediterranean Gull in amongst the Black-headed Gull colony.

Beautiful Demoiselle

Mute Swans

Dunlin during a very brief drop in to Draycote Water

Blackcap

Swallow

House Martins

Little Grebe

Late May

Practically nothing ornithological or photogenically (if that's even a real word) to report during a busy spell carrying out Newt and Bat surveys around the country but here's some pictures anyway....

Common Clubtail on the River Severn - I think its the first I've ever seen!

 

 

 

Great-crested Newts

Baby Oystercatcher at Blithfield Reservoir

 

21st May

A look at Venus Pool at lunchtime saw 3 Sanderlings fly in to land briefly at midday before swiftly moving on along with two broods of Shelduck, each with 9 small ducklings, 4 Little Ringed Plovers and a Yellow Wagtail.

Shelduck ducklings

This Heron seemed more interested in small fish than the nearby bite-sized ducklings!