Last weekend, Sara & I had four days in Snowdonia National Park. It was superb, mainly for hiking and the incredible weather we experienced, but there were some good birds along the way. Males of Pied Flycatcher, Wood Warbler and Ring Ouzel were all seen well.
Thursday, Friday and today I've been down in Sussex (now back in Hants), but from a birding perspective it's been poor and demoralising for a few reasons, however, the orchids and butterflies today certainly made-up for this.
Over the three days, I encountered 16 species of orchid and a number of good butterflies, namely Adonis Blue, Small Blue and Green Hairstreak. Of the 16 species of orchid, three of my favourites in the county were seen: Man, Fly and Frog. A number of the 16 species were either crispy, or not yet emerged, but it was still great to see a number of class species in full fettle on my way back to Hampshire.
From tomorrow, I'll be off leading down back-to-back tours in Somerset, and then, driving north to Scotland to lead a tour on Shetland, with additional days afterwards searching for my last UK Odonata - Azure Hawker!
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| A wonderful Fox family |
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| Green Hairstreak |
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| Bee Orchid |
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| Small Blue |
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| female Adonis Blue |
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| Man Orchid |
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| Fly Orchid |
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| Frog Orchid |
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| Sword-leaved Helleborine |
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| White Helleborine |
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| Birds-nest Orchid |
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| Eyed Hawk Moth |
