Another hot day with breeding birds to the fore, many species are now feeding young, although a female Whitethroat could only muster a few aphids from a blossoming Hawthorn, several pairs of Moorhen remain on the nest, family parties of up to 60 Starling are foraging across site and some species such as Little Grebe and Stonechat are already on round two.
Elsewhere the Dark-bellied Brent Goose was in the estuary with a flock of c30 small waders in the Bight difficult to view in the haze but mostly Ringed Plover, with a few Dunlin and Sanderling.
Wildlife News: The weather brought several new species for the year including the first Meadow Brown, 11 days later than last year. Conversely a Bare-saddled Colletes C.similis was several weeks early.
The Meadow Brown was one of nine butterfly species including Brown Argus and a couple of Red Admiral. The latter were no doubt migrants as a Hummingbird Hawkmoth was in the Back Meadow, with at least 25 Marmalade Hoverfly and a White-clubbed Glasswing Scaeva pyrastri on site. Further hoverflies noted included Bumblebee Volucella bombylans and Pied Plumehorn V.pellucens, Tiger Hoverfly Helophilus pendulus and Meadow Boxer Platycheirus peltatus.
Others records included Cream Spot Ladybird, Alder Spittlebug Aphrophora alni, the moths Purple Bar and Twin-barred Knothorn Homoeosoma sinuella, and new for the Recording Area; a St John's-wort leaf beetle Chrysolina hyperici, a leafhopper Megopthalmus scabripennis and a fern feeding sawfly Aneugmenus coronatus.
Despite the records above insects numbers still remain low especially on the abundant Hemlock Water-dropwort and Hawthorn.
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