Bank Holiday Weekend, Amwell.

As usual after a visit to the Chelsea Flower Show, apart from recovering from a very exhausting day,  there was a lot of work to do in the garden-new plants to pot up, seeds to sow and various other things to do. Good job I had the Friday off as well.
The weather over the weekend was a bit gloomy and damp, certainly not the scorcher of the previous long weekend. Saturday started of dull, misty and cool, so I thought there might be a possibility of Black Terns inland, or maybe a wader or two, so I headed off to Amwell. I was rather surprised to only see Barry's car there-presumably everyone else had gone travelling.
As it turned out is was a rather dull day from a birding perspective. There were a small number of Swifts and Swallows around, one Oystercatcher was on the island, apparently on a nest, and there were a few Common terns around. At one point I heard a sandpiper call overhead but never got onto it-Barry said that there was a Common Sandpiper present that morning. The small group of loafing Lesser Black Backs had one third summer Herring Gull and the regular  juvenile  Yellow Legged Gull.

Around 10ish, it started to brighten up and the temperature rose slightly so I went looking for dragonflies. The lily pads on Tumbling Bay held a lot of Red Eyed Damselflies, with a few Azure Damselflies. A couple of Four Spotted Chasers and Hairy Dragonflies were also present. Hopefully not too long before Norfolk hawkers and Scarce Chasers emerge.
Hollycross turned out to be pretty quiet with Azures, and a couple of Large Red Damsels. The orchid pen seemed to be poor this year with fewer than usual numbers of flower spikes. Butterflies were almost non-existent with a few Green Veined Whites and my first Red Admiral of the year.