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An individual, of no great importance, who is unable to see the natural world as a place for competition. I catch fish, watch birds, derive immense pleasure from simply looking at butterflies, moths, bumble-bees, etc - without the need for rules! I am Dylan and this is my blog - if my opinions offend? Don't bother logging on again - simple!

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Tuesday 22 April 2014

Time flies when I'm not at work!

This Easter weekend has fallen just right; I finished at 14.00 hrs Thursday and return, today, at 14.00 hrs - in effect getting a five day break. Only thing is I can't ever remember a week, at work, passing as quickly as this holiday period has done?
A smart male Yellow Wagtail - one of several that I located around the marsh during my wandering
In spite of our domestic upheaval, I did manage to catch up with a few summer migrants and also grabbed an early Monday morning session out on the Minster Marshes. A real bonus - enjoyed in bright sunshine and solitude, just the ticket! Birds dominated proceedings - Lesser Whitethroat, Cetti's, Reed and Sedge Warbler plus Cuckoo making it onto my 2014 list. At one point the gulls went up, but I failed to locate the cause. Butterflies were rather limited; Peacock, Green-veined White and Small Torts being my only sightings, although I did record Holly Blue and Hummingbird Hawk-moth in our garden later in the day - both new for the year.
Good numbers of Sedge, and Reed, Warblers are now back on territory along the
R. Stour and surrounding drainage channels
The camera has been kept active as I continue to find new subjects, purely because I am looking in places I've not done previously. Andrena and Nomada bee species were plentiful along the hedgerows and riverside pathway causing me to continually get distracted. It was nice to record a number of Ashy Mining Bees, nectaring on Dandelions, having only ever seen this species, in our garden, once before!

Common Bee Wasp (Nomada ruficornis

Gooden's Nomad Bee (Nomada goodeniana)
I'm sure that there was much more to be found, but my time quickly passed and I headed home for a spot of gardening (perish the thought!) It was while I was clearing away some grass cuttings that I noticed a tiny hover-fly - the like of which I'd not seen previously. A thin body, with a bulbous tail which was rather tactile. I grabbed the camera and managed to secure a couple of images that have allowed me to ID the insect as Baccha elongata, a common woodland species apparently?

The Hover-fly (Baccha elongata) - completely unlike any other species I've ever seen.
My appologies for the image quality - it really was very mobile and  I struggled big time!
My only other sighting, of any possible interest, was a female Marsh Harrier - high over Whiteness Point and out to sea - at 08.00 hrs on Easter Sunday.

Quite what would possess a Marsh Harrier to head out to sea in the gloomy
conditions that prevailed? Bev said that it must have known what was coming,
as we sat looking at the pouring rain ,later in the day!



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