I had a fairly wild day today: I spent a wonderful few hours this morning exploring my patch with my mum and our dog, then instead of sitting inside at home I sat outside in the garden and spotted some cool species and this evening I took our dog for a walk round our local meadow which is always a nice way to round off the day.
On patch the highlights were definitely hearing a male Nightjar churring which totally confused me at first considering they're normally crepuscular creatures. But I wasn't mistaken because it churred on 3 occasions and I then flushed it when I went to investigate. I think I'll be back soon to see if there's a nest nearby or if it's even still in that area. I also saw (and heard) loads of Sylvia warblers, namely Dartfords and Whitethroats, but plenty of skulking Blackcaps and Garden Warblers too. In addition to this there were plenty of Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers around obviously with nests hidden away nearby. Other species that I saw on my wanderings included my first Marbled White of the year, Silver-washed Fritillary (I think), Silver-studded Blue and a large dragonfly that flew past me way too quick for me to identify it.
In our garden, though it's not very big, on a sunny and warm day it is lovely to just sit with your eyes closed for a while and listen. I heard loads of House Martins and watched their aerobatic acrobats for a long time too as they wheeled around in the air above me. I also heard a Buzzard calling somewhere in the distance, heard lots of bees buzzing and saw a few butterflies as well.
Here are some photos from today with a little description for each:
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| Panorama of 'West End' which is one of my favourite parts of my patch. |
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| Saw some juvenile Dartford Warblers here so that's another pair I didn't know about - they seem to have had a good year! |
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| Burnet moth |
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| Silver-studded Blue butterfly (Plebejus argus) |
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| A feather I found but I'm not sure what it's from - Pheasant I think. |
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| Foxglove Pug (Eupithecia pulchellata) on the wall by our front door. |
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| Hawthorn Shieldbug (Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale) on our back door. |
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