June Is Busting Out All Over

 One more walk along the south side of the Mere and another highly enjoyable one.

I do go elsewhere every now and then, but a fantastic mix of habitat is here - fields, water, hedgerows, grassland and woodland. Walking along very early in the morning before most people are out and about is most rewarding and I see more wildlife then.

Cobwebs highlighted in the early morning dew

Wassand Woodland walk

The Grasshopper Warbler was still in place, reeling away and sounding fantastic. Competing with the Gropper was a Great Spotted Woodpecker bashing away at a dead branch. Lovely to see in the sunlight.

Great Spotted Woodpecker - you can see its tongue

Coot

I don't visit the hide very often but I decided to call in for a few minutes today. The water was absolutely still with no breeze. A Hobby was flying around and I watched it pick off a dragonfly from the top of a reed stem then it flew off into a tree to eat it.

Hobby

Whitethroat

I went up to Ulrome to see if the Corn Buntings would show themselves for me. They did - 4 of them - but I couldn't get a clear shot of the them when they were relatively close. Stems of umbels or grass got in the way 😀🤣 but they were singing away for all they were worth which was good to hear.

Corn Bunting singing in Cow Parsley

Corn Bunting sitting out, but distant

There are lots of Yellowhammers and warblers at Ulrome and more Yellowhammer photos can't be a bad thing. 

Yellowhammer belting out a-little-bit-of-bread-but-no-cheese

I met Mark on his local-ish patch and together we watched as a diver came closer so we could decide if it was Great Northern or a Red-throated. Unfortunately it was a Red-throated. Nice, but a Great Northern would have been even better for me.

Red-throated Diver off Ulrome