Yesterday I went to Rye Meads as it was raining on and off all morning and I preferred to sit in a hide with my camera rather than get wet at Amwell. Also I have not been there for a while so it made a bit of a change.
One of the Kingfishers showing well on the camera outside the nest bank and had been for about twenty minutes-I suggested that it had been nailed there to pull in the visitors. Naturally by the time I got to the hide it had gone, but activity was high as the pair are feeding young on a regular basis. Unfortunately neither bird wanted to use any of the posts close to the hide so we had to be content with more distant views.
I went up to the Meads but nothing much was happening so went down to the lagoons. I spent some time getting images of the terns and gulls flying past-the Common Tern colony is still doing well despite the large number of Black headed Gulls utilising the rafts,
Colin (from Amwell) and his mate popped in so we had a chat, then as i was leaving he called me back as they had found a moulting drake Wigeon-rather unusual for the valley. We all walked back to the Draper Hide, but apart from a juvenile Little Egret we did not see anything-earlier they had a Green Sandpiper.
Today the morning started warm and sunny so I thought I'd go to Broxbourne Woods. Shortly after arriving I had a Silver Washed Fritillary fly by. Lots of Meadow Browns and some Ringlets around. I met up with someone new to the site and walked round with him, and a local couple joined us briefly. No Emperors-not unexpected after recent weather, and no White Admirals either. The local couple reckon that management in recent years has led to a significant decline.
We had a few Purple Hairstreaks, another Silver washed and a few large dragonflies-Brown and Southern hawker and an Emperor. The only one that posed was a female Black Tailed Skimmer.
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