Back on the patch

Back down to earth with a bump after my holiday in Belarus with a rather damp Tuesday morning stroll to toft with Bob before giving up the will to live. Only managed 5 Yellow Wagtail, 3 Common Tern and 300 + Swift though it gave me a chance to listens to Bob version of finding last week’s summer plumage Spotted Sandpiper before I threw him in the pond. Luckily my extended stay in the visitor centre meant I saw 2 Hobby hunting over it before more rain came.

Today (Wed) was forecasted to be warm with prolonged sunny periods so Dave and I after a brief look at the pond went butterflying. Harbury Spoilbank had 22 Dingy Skipper, 4 Grizzled Skipper, 6 Brimstone, Peacock, Orange-tip, and Small Tortoiseshell plus Pyrausta purpuralis and Cinnibar moths while Stockton Cutting had 8 Dingy Skipper, 2 Grizzled Skipper, Large White, 8 Brimstone, 5 Orange-tip  and 3 Green-veined White plus a probable Marsh Pug and Drab Looper. While we were here we had an opportunity to see the extensive operation that’s going on digging out the remains of the old loading bay of the old cement works which used to be connected to the canal and is going to be a marina in the future.

Birds today included 2 Yellow Wagtail and 2 Common Tern at the pond, 3 Lesser Whitethroat at Harbury, 4 Buzzard at Stockton, 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker and 6 Buzzard Brandon Marsh car park and Jay on Lawford Heath. I will eventually produce a report on Belarus but some of the highlights were Terek Sandpiper, Marsh Sandpiper, Great Snipe, Azure Tit, Greater, Lesser, White-tailed and Short-toed Eagle, Great Grey Owl, Hazelhen, Thrush Nightingale, Citrine Wagtail, Aquatic Warbler, and nine species of Woodpecker plus Bison and Beaver and a few glasses of vodka.