Two moths from last night

Lesser Swallow Prominent (left) and Amblyptilia acanthadactyla (right).

Little Egret and Pec Sand Martin Mere

I had a cracking day at Martin Mere today. First thing we saw the Pectoral Sandpiper briefly on Vinsons from the Ron Barker hide. Later in the day I found a Little Egret in front of the Harrier hide, which was a first for the reserve for me. Quite a few dragonflies on the wing, despite the mainly overcast conditions, including this golden looking teneral Common Darter.


Little Egret and Common Darter


Lots of nice flowers on show today, including Gypsywort (left) and I coudn't resist this shot of the unrelated Purple and Yellow Loosestrife (right).

Quail Ormskirk

I had a very productive bike ride home from Edgehill university today. There was a Quail calling in fields between Ormskirk and Bickerstaffe, at the junction of High Lane and Long Lane (SD 429053), as well as singing Corn Bunting and Yellowhammer.

Then I spotted this Hedgehog walking along the verge on the Rainford bypass. It's not often I see Hedgehogs during the day, but this chappy seemed happy enough, and was eating a worm when I photographed him.

Roudsea Woods, South Cumbria

We spent most of the day at Roudsea Woods looking at Small-leaved Lime trees, and didn't really have time for much else. However we did see a Brimstone butterfly and a Marsh Tit, as well as at least 10 Slow Worms and several Common Lizards.


Slow Worms (left) and Common Lizard (right)


Small-leaved Lime

A couple of nice moths

Moth trapping in my backyard continues to yield decent results. Last night I had an immaculate Ruby Tiger, and the night before a Pale Prominent.

Ruby Tiger (left) and Pale Prominent (right)

Pec Sand Martin Mere

Today at Martin Mere at least 11 species of wader, including 1 Pectoral Sandpiper, 3 Green Sandpipers and 1 Common Sandpiper.

Grassington to Conistone, Yorkshire Dales

Today we had a nice walk in the Yorkshire Dales, from Grassington to Conistone. The most interesting part of the walk was from Grass Wood, through Bastow Wood and below the cliff to Conistone. The dry river valley of Conistone Dib was also botanically interesting. Here we saw the leaves of Bird's-eye Primrose, but they are long over for this year, and to see them in flower we would need to return next May or June. We saw a few birds, most notably a Hobby over Bastow Wood, where we also heard a Green Woodpecker.

Conistone cliff (left) and Conistone Dib (right).

Common Rock Rose (left) and Dark Green Fritillary (right). There were plent of these beautiful butterflies on the wing today.

Mountain Pansey (left) and Betony (right).

Fragrant Orchid.