Good morning. Well, we have reached the longest day of the year and it's a scorcher! It has been really rather warm here over the last couple of days so here are some more recent sightings:
I will start though with a couple of pictures that I took on Monday morning.
Comma butterfly:
A beetle and some hoverflies feeding on the cow parsley alongside East Wood:
I had the pleasure of leading Brandon Guides around the reserve on Monday evening. Just as I got back to the reserve after popping home briefly, I bumped into volunteer John W who had just seen four little ringed plovers from the Washland viewpoint. We had a hot but enjoyable walk around the reserve and we heard a grasshopper warbler singing between the visitor centre and East Wood.
There were plenty of birds singing when I got in yesterday with a blackcap and a garden warbler singing near the visitor centre. When I got up to the Washland viewpoint, three cuckoos were chasing eachother around and there were a few interesting wading birds present:
Suzanne saw a common buzzard on the entrance track as she drove in and volunteer Paul saw four black tailed godwits from the Washland viewpoint. A bittern was also seen from Mere Hide during the morning.
Suzanne and I spent a little bit of time looking at the raised beds in front of the visitor centre and I took these photos:
Four banded longhorn beetle:
Marsh pea:
Image credits: David White
I went up to the Washland viewpoint mid-afternoon and counted at least 75 lapwings which is a good count for this time of year. A female common darter was also on the wing near the viewpoint.
I went up to the Washland viewpoint before work and saw the following:
I could also hear a grasshopper warbler reeling between the visitor centre and East Wood.
Just before I finish, here are a couple of notices:
Firstly, if you are interested, I wrote a blog post about our Big Wild Sleepout camping event yesterday, which can be found here. If you would like to camp out under the stars on the reserve 28-30 July, this is your chance!
Secondly, if you are planning to visit the reserve, there are currently cattle grazing on the riverbank between the Washland viewpoint and Joist Fen viewpoint.
We hope to see you soon!