A Very Quiet Weekend

As I left home early yesterday morning for an agility competition I was beginning to regret being out of the county just as things appeared to be hotting up. However my fears were unfounded as it has been a very quiet weekend. Just the odd Arctic and Black Tern at Ditchford GP and Summer Leys, Cattle Egrets at Cogenhoe, Stanwick and Summer Leys,  Red Crested Pochard at Earls Barton GP, female Ring Necked Duck at Clifford Hill GP and Ospreys at Summer Leys and Stanford Reservoir. 

It's that time of year when Butterflies,  Dragonflies and Damselflies begin to emerge. Small Heath, Dingy and Grizzled Skipper have been recorded as well as Hairy Dragonfly, Banded Demoiselles and Common Blue Damselfly. 

On my return from a very successful competition where they notched up five 1st places between them we went for a wander around Blueberry area.  On one of the recently scuffled fields was an incredible 68 blobs, or more precisely a mixed flock of Common Buzzards and Red Kites!!!. I have certainly never seen this amount loafing about on the fields around here. When I looked through the birds there were so many variations in the plumage ranging from nearly white to almost black in the Buzzards and some very silvery washed Red Kites.  The Buzzards were quite comical to watch as they were seemingly running and hoping across the field whilst the Red Kites looked on.  It really was amazing to see this and as a consequence I didn't get very far on my walk. 

Regards Eleanor 

Jaeger and Rouzel on top form!

Cuckoo courtesy
of Dave Jackson.