Had a busy birding weekend (this last couple of weeks I've been making hay while the sun shines, both semi-literally and because next month will be much more zoo-y and birding time will be limited).
Yesterday I went with my dad to look for Grizzled Skipper at Twyford Woods, where most of the below inverts came from. This was followed by a trip to noted osprey haunt Rutland Water, where we were also able to find a stilt, hobbies, a Great Northern Diver, and, after three quarters of an hour listening to a singing bush, finally an adequate nightin-glimpse.
Today I went on an afternoon jaunt to the Dearne Valley - a rather twitchy jaunt at that. The area has a series of nature reserves in a post-industrial landscape. I found the phalarope at Broomhill Flash very straightforwardly, then headed up to Old Moor for the ibis that was hanging around. This kept me waiting a long time, but it was all part of the birding gods' plans as the delay allowed me to watch a bittern being hounded out of the reeds by nesting gulls.
Birds:
174. Eurasian Hobby -
Falco subbuteo
175. Black-winged Stilt -
Himantopus himantopus
176. Western Osprey -
Pandion haliaetus
177. Common Nightingale -
Luscinia megarhynchus
178. Red-necked Phalarope -
Phalaropus lobatus
179. Great Bittern -
Botaurus stellaris
180. Glossy Ibis -
Plegadis falcinellus
(UK: 178)
Invertebrates:
20. Brown-lipped Banded Snail -
Cepaea nemoralis
21. European Hornet -
Vespa crabro
22. Grizzled Skipper - Pyrgus malvae
23. Dingy Skipper -
Erynnis tages
24. Large White -
Pieris brassicae
25. Cinnabar Moth -
Tyria jacobaea
26. Common Blue -
Polyommatus icarus
27. Red-headed Cardinal Beetle -
Pyrochroa serraticornis
28. Brown Argus -
Aricia agestis
29. Dark-edged Beefly - Bombylius major
30. Red-and-black Froghopper -
Cercopis vulnerata
31. Common Blue Damselfly -
Enallagma cyathigerum
32. Grey Mining Bee - Andrena cineraria
33. Four-spotted Chaser -
Libellula quadrimaculata
34. Tree Bumblebee -
Bombus hypnorum
35. Blue-tailed Damselfly -
Ischnura elegans
