A Varied Week

Locally there not much to report away from breeding schedule 1 or scarce county breeding birds so it’s been a varied week with a orchid trip to the Chilterns for Military and Fly Orchid, evening visit to March farmers for Red-necked Phalarope and Spoonbill and a twitch to Norfolk for the Spectacle Warbler which was only my second record. When the weather has been kind then butterflies have been out in force with good numbers of Common Blue and Small Blue at a number of sites with Small Heath and Large Skipper added to the year list while day flying moths like Treble-bar and Yellow Shell have been recorded in double figures at one site. Hairy Dragonfly are still showing and now joined on the wing by Four-spotted and Broad-bodied Chasers plus a bonus with good views of the stunning Green Tiger Beetle. On the mothing front it’s been a week of good and bad catches with plenty of new for the year species but nothing special but it has not been all fun as I foolishly failed to go for a county tick in the form of a male Red-backed Shrike preferring to stay in and finish my Great Grey Owl painting – what a twat.