Sunday 10th May

Another week has slipped by with little to report. The regular rain this week has meant that the floods are still with us though still looking rather poor given the amount of churned up mud that surrounds them. Still you never know when a tired wader might stop off there for a while. In past years we've had Little Stints and even a Pectoral Sandpiper stop in in such conditions. Sadly, all there was this week was the usual four or so EGYPTIAN GEESE, a single OYSTERCATCHER and the occasional COMMON TERN. The Swifts are definitely "in" now with three or four already careering about the skies over my house. So that's it on the migrant front unless we're lucky enough to have a Spotted Flycatcher (one of the latest migrants) stop in.

With no bird photos on offer, here's a Ringed Plover that I took a couple of weeks back

The usual Warblers are now settled in nicely in Burgess Field and are busy getting on with breeding. There's still not been a Lesser Whitethroat sighting though we do seem to have a singing SEDGE WARBLER in the Trap Ground reedbed now, which is good news.

This Nut-tree Tussock was probably the pick of last month's Moths

The rather unsettled nights have meant that mothing has so far really to kick off with very low catches. Similarly butterflies have been a bit hit and miss though I've had Holly Blues back in my garden as well as the usual Whites. We should start to get the grassland specialities of Ringlet and Marbled White in Burgess Field before too long now.

Cuckoo Flower
On the flower front the Cuckoo Flower has been out for some time and the Cow Parsley is coming out. Of course the May Flower (Hawthorn) is coming into bloom now so we can start to cast our clouts! May is such a beautiful month and the rain has meant that all the flowers and grass have a wonderful healthy green flush to them. It's a lovely time of year!

No comments:

Post a Comment