Graylings
17 Jul 2023
My favourite local butterfly has just emerged, right on cue in mid-July. There were at least half a dozen graylings flying round our garden in the sun this afternoon. They always rest with their wings tightly closed, so you only get to see the underside pattern on the wings but the patterning is very subtle. They also have the attractive habit of settling on garden chairs and tables, or even on your arm, so you can at least get a good look at thm.
Jeremy
Privet hawkmoth
14 Jul 2023
Monster moth in the trap last night – a privet hawkmoth. When released it settled for the day on a gatepost then at nightfall flapped away.
Jeremy
Gatekeepers
11 Jul 2023
The clouds of meadow browns on the bramble flowers have now been joined by some gatekeepers – smaller, more orange and with two eye-spots not one.
Jeremy
Yellow everywhere
09 Jul 2023
We're living in a blaze of yellow at present: gorse, broom, drifts fo ladies bedstraw, and the mulleins marching like soldiers across the grasslands.
Jeremy
Swifts on the move
03 Jul 2023
I was walking the sea-wall when the wind freshened from the west, the sky darkened and I was caught in a light shower. Within a few seconds small parties of swifts suddenly appeared, tracking low along the sea-wall – and heading south.
Jeremy
Meadow Brown
30 Jun 2023
Walking the sea-walls today, I disturb lots of meadow brown butterflies as I brush through the grasses. Suddenly a new generation of them is on the wing.
Jeremy
Cuckoo
29 Jun 2023
Cuckoo still calling, which is getting late. As the nursery rhyme has it, '...in June he changes his tune/ in July he prepares to fly'.
Jeremy
Oystercatchers
28 Jun 2023
The local oystercatchers still have three surviving young, which are highly mobile but not yet flying. Not long to go now before they can take to the air – and safety.
Jeremy
Spoonbills
23 Jun 2023
A group of four spoonbills feeding actively near the viewing platform on the Hollesley Marsh reserve. They commute between here, Boyton and Havergate (where they are probably nesting). Spectacular birds!
Jeremy
Breeding waders
21 Jun 2023
The lapwing and oystercatcher families in the pools by the sea-wall to East Lane now each have three surviving young, mobile but not yet flying, so still in danger from foxes, otters and dogs.
Jeremy
