The hot weather continues and if anything it was even hotter today, by 10:00hrs it was uncomfortable to stand out in the full glare of the sun.
Not much bird activity was noted after the initial, relatively cool hours before 09:00hrs, even then, there wasn't that much to be seen or heard. I walked the Greenhouse Grounds before 06:00hrs, where a BLACKCAP sang, and a WHITETHROAT was seen carrying food, a female KESTREL sat on the end of one of the Greenhouses, all the time being mobbed by a pair of SONGTHRUSH and a BLACKBIRD, there was no sign of any youngsters or the adult male Kestrel though. I aslo noted only the second DUNNOCK fledgling of the year so far.
 |
| Female Kestrel |
 |
| Female Kestrel |
 |
| Young Dunnock |
 |
| Young Dunnock |
A circuit of the paddocks and sheep pasture at Migrant Alley was made, and the usual gang of Corvids, mainly ROOKS, were seen again, sat along the fence lines. The STARLING flock, 50-60 strong were making forays from the sheep pasture into an adjacent large garden, where they were stripping the cherries from a well stocked tree, also in the pasture were a dozen GREYLAG GEESE and two CANADA GEESE, while at the Wooded Headland to the north of the paddocks, just a single singing CHIFFCHAFF was of note.
A SKYLARK sang overhead whilst I fired off loads of shots of this young ROOK or is it a young CARRION CROW ? Rook I reckon :-)
 |
| Young Rook |
 |
| Young Rook |
 |
| Young Rook |
 |
| Young Rook |
As yesterday, I went over to the Scrubby Woods to try and get a Purple Hairstreak photo, but although two-three were seen, they remained high up and out of Camera range. Lots of other Butterflies were seen though, eleven species in all, which included this Red Admiral, as well as Large and Small Skippers, Large and Small Whites, Speckled Wood, Comma, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper and Small Tortoiseshell :-)
 |
| Red Admiral |
As the heat built up the Butterflies took to cover, even the Damsels and Dragons melted away, not before seven species were identified though - Azure, Common Blue, Blue Tailed, Large Red, and White-legged Damsels, plus Brown Hawker and Emperor Dragonflies were seen.
I headed of home for some shelter at 11:00hrs, as most of the wildlife had already done so by then!
 |
| Anyone want to put a name to this bug, perhaps Rutpela Strangulata ? |
8 comments:
Another nice day for you in the sunshine. I wish of all day sessions in the sun.
Marc,
I only stayed out till 11:00hrs, it was just too hot in the sun after that. Not much stays out in this heat in the afternoon :-)
Hi Warren.
I think your beetle is Strangalia maculata.
Hi Phil,
Rutpela is the same as Strangalia, Rutpela is the newer name :-)
Flipping heck Warren. This stuff is hard enough as it is without them changing the bloody names!!! :-)
Warren ,
So Phil and yourself are getting all scientific now ! Harlequin or Spotted Longhorn , or Black and Yellow Harlequin Beetle , are all common , non-scientific names .
For what it's worth , I'm going for Carrion Crow on your juv. Corvid , purely on the depth of the bill and lack of white on the lower part , just my opinion .
Cheers Greenie,
It's difficult to call on the Rook/Carrion crow, it was with the Rook flock, which swung my opinion, but there were a few carrion crow out there too :-)
Great Kestrel pics Mate, sounds like a good session.
Post a Comment