17 May 18

Bumpers Lane, Penn's Weare, Rufus Castle, St Andrew's Church and Pennsylvania Castle Wood

After yesterday's blip in the weather it was back to wall to wall blue skies and lovely sunshine. The wind was coming from the north-east, but in sheltered spots it was very warm.

Main highlight today was watching a pair of Wrens taking food into a nest along Penn's Weare and also coming across my second Wall Brown of the year. The latter very close to where I saw one a few days ago. I might have to sit it out to capture a photo of one.

There were a few Common Whitethroats about with 3 males singing. One by the "Cuttings" and 2 in Penn's Weare.

Here are few images from this afternoon:

A Common Whitethroat.You can see how.......

.......he got his name.

A male Linnet

A Wrens nest tucked away between the rocks in Penn's Weare.

A male Wall Lizard at St Andrew's Church.

A female Green-veined White.

A hoverfly possibly one of the Syrphini species.

This is Scarlet Pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis) and also goes by other names such as Blue-scarlet Pimpernel, Poorman's Barometer, Shepherd's Weather Glass and many other names.

The prominent plant here is the yellow flowers of Bird's-foot-trefoil (Lotus corniculatus). In amongst it is the bluish flower Common Milkwort (Polygala vulgaris) and far left Red Valerian (Centranthus ruber).

Sedge/grass to be identified.

Bird's-foot-trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) and Red Valerian (Centranthus ruber).

St Andrews Church grounds.

Penn's Wood

Birds Recorded: Herring Gull, Wood Pigeon, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, 3 Common Whitethroat, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Raven, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Linnet and Goldfinch.

Butterflies recorded:  1 Wall Brown, Large White, Small White and Orange-tip.

Hoverflies: Epistrophe eligans and a Syrphini sp.

Also seen 1 Wall Lizard.