With thanks to volunteer Graham for his report and photos.
It was a breezy day at Pulborough Brooks on Sunday, mostly dry, with just a few spots of very light rain for a short while. Bird-wise it was mostly fairly subdued, but there were reasonable numbers of the commoner butterflies about. However, dragonflies and damselflies were in extremely short supply, and I only saw three species all day (azure & blue-tailed damsels and ruddy darter). This is an amazing difference from just a week ago, and presumably largely a result of the extended dry weather causing a reduction in emergence.
On a more positive note, the visitors I spoke to all seemed to be enjoying their time at Pulborough Brooks, and I still found plenty of wildlife to photograph. Near the Visitor Centre the spear thistle provided a splash of colour,
while along the trail gatekeepers were the most numerous butterfly species to be seen.
Some of the ragwort had developed seed heads,
and the fleabane was attracting hoverlies such as this Eristalinus sepulchralis.
Cinnabar Moth caterpillars were few and far between, appearing only in very small groups or individually.
I was just finishing my lunch at Redstart Corner when a group of up to about 25 swallows arrived and spent a few minutes feeding over the field,
with a few occasionally landing on the fence .
Further along the path I was asked by a couple of visitors to confirm the ID of what they suspected was a wasp spider. One of them had taken a very clear photo of a striking female so I was quickly able to do so. He provided excellent directions to its location, and I found it at the side of the path at the west end of Adder Alley as soon as I arrived at the point he had indicated.
After brief visits to the ditch dipping ponds and Hanger View I moved on to the pathside bank just past 'Hairstreak Corner'. The lichen on a twig overhanging the path had attracted a small number of face flies (Musca autumnalis).
Up the bank, on the top of a thistle, I spotted what appeared to be a small dark insect sticking out. When I approached more closely I could see it was a fly (another face fly) that was in the grip of a female crab spider (Misumena vatia). I thought such a notable sighting deserved to be photographed from more than one angle.
On the way back to the Visitor Centre I came across a male long-winged conehead at the zigzags who needed two fleabane flowerheads to fully stretch out his legs.
I didn’t need any prompting to put my own feet up when I got home.