Saturday and Sunday 16th and 17th June

Heavy weather on Saturday (c) Jason Coppock

Damselflies laying eggs (c) P.Barker

Best time for dog roses (c) P.Barker

Black Tailed Skimmer (c) David Hastings

Butterfly Orchid first I've seen on the moor.(c) Paul Greenaway

Very strong winds and showers on Saturday gave way to more sunshine and calmer weather on Sunday. As a consequence there was much more to be seen on Sunday.
Sadly the Corncrake has either left or given up calling, it was a wonderful sound to hear. There has been some speculation that it might have been one of the Nene Washes birds that has relocated after flooding.
A Black Tailed Godwit on Saturday morning was surprisingly the first one on the moor this year and takes the year list up to 140 species.
On Sunday there seemed to have been a mass emergence of Four Spotted Chasers, there were at least four Hobbies catching them and putting on a spectacular show over Greenaways from late morning onwards.
A Grasshopper Warbler has taken up residence along the path to the first screen and could be heard reeling even by those like myself who are harder of hearing than we used to be! It was very difficult to see but just occasionally showed flying into the hedge. A juvenile Peregrine was seen over the reserve on Sunday morning. Although they have not taken to the tern raft yet there were Common Terns feeding around the reed bed Lagoons.
Other Dragonflies are now on the wing and I was sent a picture of a newly emerged Black Tailed Skimmer, taken along to path to the first screen. When peering into the ditch beside the pump house looking for dragonflies, it was possible to see a large shoal of red finned fish just below the surface, presumably Rudd or Roach. It was encouraging as we had feared that the drought might have depleted fish stocks.
Butterflies and dragonflies will offer most variety over the next four of five weeks until the first waders start to return, at least when they come they will have plenty of places to feed.