☀️24C Monday 7th May 2018 (Bank Holiday) ~ An early morning visit to Summer Leys Nature Reserve in Northamptonshire with the wife before the heat set in.
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| Yes ~ That tiny dot in the middle is a Wood Sandpiperπ |
Our first stop was the Pioneer Hide in search of a year-tick ✅
Wood Sandpiper. Thankfully it wasn't too difficult to locate with a fellow birder pointing us in the right direction as we arrived, which was actually along the bank over towards the disused railway line and not as we'd anticipated on the 'wader scrape'. While in the hide circa 30
Common Terns, the many noisy nesting
Black-headed Gulls, a couple of
Little Egret and the
Great Egret was across towards the Paul Britten Hide, giving a couple of photographers some stunning views.
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| More Garden Warblers than Blackcaps today |
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| Garden Warbler |
Taking the footpath around to the Britten hide at least five Garden Warblers, in fact, more of these than Blackcaps singing today. Naturally just as Dazza and I arrived for the amazing Great Egret photos the bird took flight! Still, we spent a short time here, Dazza picking out a distant Red Kite, plus Cuckoo, only heard distantly.
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| Sedge Warbler |
We completed the full circuit encountering the usual warblers, which included the above Sedge Warbler. Many butterflies π¦ on the wing, mainly Brimstone, Green-veined White and Orange Tip, but also managed a single Small White and Small Tortoiseshell.
There was also a lifer for me today, my second passion being aviation, in the form of the below Messerschmitt Me109 fighter. Which if memory serves is the Hispano Buchon, a Spanish licenced built copy, which I would imagine in current touring.
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| Hispano Buchon, a Spanish licenced built copy of the Messerschmitt Me109 fighter. |
