A largely fine week with some very impressive thunderstorms and associated monsoon rain on Thursday afternoon.
The highlights of the week go to a trio of butterflies; firstly there appear to be one or two freshly emerged swallowtails on the wing, not a second generation, but a protracted first brood it would seem. Secondly, the fantastic silver washed fritillaries appear to be doing very well, with at least three individuals present in the woodland clearings, they have been reported to be egg laying so will hopefully be here again next year too. The fritillaries have been slowly spreading this way in recent years so it is amazing to have them on the reserve for good, we even just had one fly into Reception Hide itself! The final highlight butterfly of the week is the white admiral, our only species of glider in the county and watching these butterflies effortlessly floating around the woodland glades must be a highlight of anyone’s day.
The birds have also been good throughout the week, with returning waders starting to appear in larger numbers; green sandpipers have been spotted from Tower Hide as well as black tailed godwit and ruff. A garganey was also seen from Tower Hide mid week. A juvenile cuckoo has been seen in the woodland being fed by a dunnock, which is a nice surprise, I suspect it is a different bird to that which I photographed last week.
Marsh harrier juveniles have not started to get adventurous and have fledged the nests to collect food from both parents, the very black, ginger headed young birds like to perch up on trees and can be quite amusing to watch.
Kingfishers are being seen regularly from across the reserve, especially from Reception Hide.
The insects are certainly ruling the reserve at the moment with many dragonfly species now patrolling the ditches and water bodies across the reserve. The new species out this week is willow emerald damselfly first seen on Thursday. Brown hawker and Norfolk hawkers are still the most frequently encountered of the larger species, but the southern hawkers can be found in increasing number in the woodland, often found hanging on vegetation awaiting their next bit of prey to track down.
An otter was seen on Wednesday morning from Reception Hide, this was the only report of the week.
Almost everything is open and in good condition, the first part of the meadow trail is currently closed due to grazing, but should open again early in the week beginning 10 July.