Good Day Sunshine

 A circuit of the Mere this morning was a real pleasure in the warm June sun. I met no one at all once I got past Bewholme Lane and the next person I saw was at Wassand car park. This was fine as it was Alan :)

I decided to take my time along the north side and give it several coats of looking at, which was a worthwhile exercise as I did see a lot of wildlife over there.

I saw 5 dragonflies along the north side but I only managed to id 2 of them as they did not settle within my view. Brown Hawker was a nice find and my first Black-tailed Skimmer of the year was good too. No pics as they were camera shy.

The hedgerows were not exactly alive with birds as this just doesn't happen any more, but each section had its own bit of interest, be that Common Whitethroat (lots), Lesser Whitethroat(2), Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Yellowhammer or Linnet. A Sparrowhawk, a Kestrel and a cream crown Marsh Harrier passed through but didn't hang about.

The first bird to get into my camera view finder was a Yellow Wagtail, one of two in a patch of bare earth within a crop field. Also flushed from there was a Red-legged Partridge, one of three for the morning.

Yellow Wagtail

There aren't as many poppies in the fields as I anticipated, with just single stems every now and then.

There were quite a few butterflies along my route with Small Tortoiseshell being the most numerous. The number went down by one as I watched a Whitethroat catch one 🙂

Common Whitethroat with Small Tortoiseshell butterfly

Even though it was still early, the sun was very warm and it was good to catch a bit of shade beneath the mature trees along the way.

The few stands of mature trees held Chiffchaff and a Blackcap, more additions to the growing list of species for the morning. Good numbers of young birds were seen on the north side with Whitethroat being the most numerous. This photo is one of three juvs in a dead tree.

A young Common Whitethroat

Just 5 species of butterfly seen today - a bit of a let down but at least I saw some!

Small Tortoiseshell, Painted Lady (3), Speckled Wood (8), Meadow Brown (lots) and a few Ringlet on the south side once I got there.

Ringlet

However, I saved the best sighting until last.

As I was walking through Wassand I came across the first Stag Beetle I'd seen in Hornsea. OK, it was a Lesser Stag Beetle, and a female so it lacked the impressive antlers of a male, but it was a Stag Beetle. Very happy with that!

A female Lesser Stag Beetle