More Good Weather = More Wildlife

 The warm, sunny spell continues and it has been instrumental in getting our local wildlife to show itself. I've seen more butterflies and bees in the past 5 days than in the whole of the year so far.

Poppy with Buff-tailed Bumblebee incoming

Poppy with Buff-tailed Bumblebee outgoing

Red-tailed Bumblebee incoming onto poppy

Buff-tailed and Red-tailed with Marmalade hoverfly

Pied Plumehorn hoverfly (Volucella pellucens)

The numbers of damselflies in the fields along the south side of the Mere have to be seen to be believed. There must be thousands of them - mainly Common Blue Damselflies with a few Blue-tailed and Azure mixed in. I've seen several blue-form females this year and to my eyes these have been in short supply in previous years. Most females locally are of the green form although there are even less numerous other colours too.

Common Blue Damselflies - male above and blue-form female below

Common Blue damselflies with the more common green-form female

 Anything happening on the bird front? Not much. The summer migrants and our resident birds are cracking on with their breeding season. Lots of young birds on the wing now.

Young Starling in first field

Lots of young Starlings in first field

Young Long-tailed Tit

Young Moorhen

Unsure of this one - could be young Whitethroat still with downy feathers

 Great Spotted Woodpeckers seem to have had a good breeding season as there are good numbers around Hornsea. Young 'peckers have a red patch on the crown of the head which gradually disappears as the bird reaches maturity.

Juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker (red on the crown)

Juvenile GSW taking off

Some birds, like this Yellowhammer, are either preparing for their second brood or are repairing their nests.

Yellowhammer with nest stuff

The mammals hereabouts aren't to be ignored either, with squirrels (grey unfortunately) and hares seen regularly in the fields and woods.

Squirrel with food

Grey Squirrel

Brown Hare approaching

Close enough - time to leave

The wild flowers in the meadows and hedgerows are stunning in the bright sunshine.

Dogwood in flower

Dogwood closeup

Umbellifers, cornflowers and a poppy or two

Creeping cinquefoil

Finally onto butterflies - the real harbinger of summer. Just a few now after the early broods have died off and we wait for the late broods to emerge, but a couple of Meadow Browns appeared just to whet my appetite for what's to come.

The first Meadow Brown of the year

Common Blue butterfly