On a Roll(er)

Spotted Flycatcher on the golf course early this morning seen from biggen bay was my first for the pond this year otherwise little to else to see and no chance to put my scope through its paces. Lunch at the Just So produced plenty of Common and Blue-tailed Damselflies in the Bridge Nursery garden but only 2 Large Red and 6 White-legged. Overcast conditions kept the butterfly numbers down and we only found single Peacock, Common Blue and Large White. At Stockton Cutting the first Common Spotted and Greater Butterfly Orchids were just flowering while the only butterflies seen were 5 Dingy and 2 Grizzled Skippers though White-legged damselfly numbered at least twenty. A Raven was over the entrance to Draycote Water as we passed I arrived home to an offer of a bag of fish & chips on the coast and assumed this would be our yearly east coast jaunt followed by an evening walk for Nightjars but we headed north for Aldbrough, Yorkshire instead where over 3 hours later we are watching a European Roller with scores of other admirers. You just can’t get enough of theses blue beauties. Two Barn Owls seen on the way home but I had no idea which county I was in and did not care either.

White-legged Damselfly, Bridge Nursery, Napton

Greater Butterfly Orchid, Stockton

Roller image from wiki