After an unbearable week of record breaking temperatures and almost melting away to a puddle of my own sweat, I am so glad to see the back of last week's heatwave. Thankfully, it has been much cooler this week, though this weekend was a bit of a washout and now it has been very windy since Tuesday. Not that I'm complaining of course. In fact it is quite refreshing.
 |
| Painted Lady |
It wasn't the most exciting morning at Strumpshaw I'm afraid. The blustery conditions kept most things quiet. However, that didn't seem to stop a new fresh-looking batch of painted lady butterflies from emerging and taking over the place. They seemed to be everywhere despite the wind and especially down the path leading to Fen Hide, where they kept landing in front of me as I made my way to the hide. They looked as striking as their predecessors did when they arrived from Morocco earlier this summer. I expect that they will either produce the next generation here in the UK or make a start on their journey back to Africa one generation at a time in a relay like fashion. It really has been quite a painted lady year.
Also today; the kingfishers continue to make brief cameos at Reception Hide, the marsh harriers continue to deliver food to their young hungry airborne chicks, a sparrowhawk and a buzzard made a couple of appearances, swallows made a few spells of feeding flights over the broad, and the mallards and shovelers were still moulting confusing everyone that are new to birding even more than usual.
No comments:
Post a Comment