The last two weeks at Beckingham have seen a huge boom in the numbers of butterflies on the wing, with any flower heads on site positively teeming with meadow brown, gatekeeper, small and Essex skipper and small tortoiseshell. This is certainly the largest number of butterflies I've ever seen on site and has been very encouraging after such a slow start to the season. I have yet to see many Odonata on site this year and would be very interested in any records of two of our newest species on the reserve list - banded demoiselle and red-eyed damselfly. Do drop us a line and let us know if you see any.
Out on the reserve, our volunteers have been busy doing some fencing work, hanging a new gate and maintaining our predator fence. And speaking of which....we can now announce that it has officially been the best year for breeding lapwing on site ever! 12 pairs fledged 11-13 young (although I suspect it is indeed 13). A brilliant achievement and one that is down to much hard work and determination from everyone involved in the project over the last 5 years. Last Wednesday (22nd July), we were able to watch the last youngster of the year flying around one of the fields with it's parent - all the others having left site, no doubt to join a wintering flock somewhere. Fabulous!
The end of our best season so far! Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)