The year is going quickly I realised today. So much still to see, so little time remaining so I'd better get on with it!
Only 6.2 miles walked today though as I spent a lot of time standing still seeking Lapwing chicks and dragonflies. Up to 1100 miles for the year so not too bad.
A fair number of hirundines were over the Mere this morning in blustery conditions. Swifts and House Martins mainly with a few Swallows and just one or two Sand Martins.
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Common Swift over the Mere
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Butterflies were showing well too, but the windy conditions kept them mostly in the lee of the wind. This Meadow Brown was tucked in the hedgerow between first and second fields.
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My first Meadow Brown of the year
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Male Orange Tip
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Speckled Wood - not often I see the underside of a SW
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The Lapwings were being particularly protective today, getting up and calling whenever anyone walked along the footpath. There are at least 2 chicks still out there and doing OK.
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| One of two Lapwing chicks that are still surviving |
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Two new Mute Swan families - six cygnets in this one
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...and seven cygnets here
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I have to admit that I haven't exactly been keeping a close eye on the Mute Swans that have been nesting around the Mere, but I saw 2 families of them where the cygnets looked pretty young to me.
Out there in the fields the wild flowers are coming along quicker than I can keep up with, at least there are plenty I can recognise easily without too much effort.
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They seek it here, they seek it there - Scarlet Pimpernel
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I saw two dragonflies today but never close enough to be sure of ID. Damselflies were numerous, as they have been for a few days, in the grassy meadows along the south side, including an Azure Damselfly among the Common Blues.
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Azure Damselfly
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We are well into June now and the number of young birds is thankfully growing daily. Young Long-tailed Tit, Coal Tit, Whitethroat, Chaffinch, Robin, Greylag Goose and Blackbird were seen today (as well as Lapwing and Mute Swan).
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Young Coal Tit
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