Thursday 25th July

It's been another week of lovely summer weather and the insects are certainly enjoying it. I visited the Trap Grounds and there were hoards of butterflies on the flowers there including plenty of Gatekeepers which are now out in force as well as a lots of bees.

Gatekeeper

There weren't any Brown Hawkers by the Trap Grounds pond when I visited though a Southern Hawker was buzzing around the woodland paths and there were a few Dameselflies around.

On the Meadow itself the feral geese are all grazing away on the fresh grass that has grown out of the dried up flood area. The Black-headed Gulls are continuing to loaf around there and there was a very modest roost of Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the Meadow the other evening. There were at least two juvenile Common Terns hanging out by the river with a couple of parents, presumably successfully reared at Farmoor.

One of the parent Common Terns

My garden mothing has continued to be good but not quite the high numbers of previous weeks. The pick of the crop as far as photogenic moths is concerned was probably this gorgeous Phoenix.

 Phoenix

 With quite a bit more rain forecast over the coming days I can't help but wonder if we might get enough to have some of the floods return. Highly unlikely I know given how dry it has been but a man can dream at least!.


No comments:

Post a Comment