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| Jetstream Set To Return North |
Is there light at the end of the tunnel? After an appalling spell of weather over recent months it seems that the culprit, the ever present 'Jet Stream' is finally about to head north!
According to the Met Office an Azores high is likely to build from the early part of next week thus returning the UK to a more normal summer weather flow. Well I always feel that the best way to tell the weather these days is to stick your head out of the window but I really hope that this time there right.
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| Marbled White |
Brandon Marsh was once again flooded out on Sunday but we enjoyed a real summers day today (Tuesday) and despite not prolific a good number of Butterflies and Dragonflies were once again on the wing.
My first Marble White Butterfly of the year was located on the Farm Field area and after a tiring tour of the reserve I'd recorded various numbers of: Small Skipper, Small Heath, Small Copper, Red Admiral, Comma, Meadow Brown and Ringlet. A few Whites were seen, too distant to ID and unfortunately there were a few marked absentees with no sightings of Gatekeeper or Common Blue, two species which should be easily found at this time of year! Dragonflies included: Brown Hawker, Black-tailed Skimmer and Common Darter.
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| Corncockle |
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| Bladder Campion |
The birding is extremely quiet, in fact pretty dire at present and so the usual Tuesday crew took the opportunity to have a good trawl of the reserves flora. There are always winners and losers when it comes to the recent weather but a definite winner is the reserves meadows. Being accompanied by such a knowledgeable group is a real bonus and for someone who knew nothing about wild flowers when I arrived 3 years ago I can now boast a decent knowledge bank of my own. Thanks to Alban, Jim and particularly Mike Lee our up an coming guru for there constant fountain of information.
