July 5th 2008

Another humid night and very early morning found me in the valley looking at Barn Owls and I managed to see four and they are now starting to wander further away from the nest site. A heavy downpour might have brought down the female Whinchat which was on the edge of field off the country lane between Sawbridge and Grandborough so I did not mind getting soaked and around this area were Tree Sparrow, Linnets, Yellowhammer, Sparrowhawk, Yellow Wagtail and Whitethroat. Plenty of more Whitethroats further on in the valley with Skylarks, Yellowhammers, Lapwing 180 and Rooks 500, also my first live sighting of the year of Badger as it crossed the flecknoe rd in broad daylight.
Draycote Water was looking good with plenty of sunshine and warm winds but only found Common Sandpiper 2, Buzzard 4, Lesser Black-backed Gull 57, Black-headed Gull 7, Green Woodpecker and Grey Wagtail 2. On the butterfly front I had more luck with Ringlet 50+, Small Heath, Meadow Brown 50+, Large White 5, Gatekeeper, Speckled Wood 3 and Marbled White 43 from the two locations its on.
Back home and Steve Seal has e-mailed me a moth he had trapped last night in his garden - nice one - Beautiful Carpet and a declining species in the county.

Beautiful Carpet by Steve Seal
Me and Dave are off down south of county tonight mothing with the big boys but the weather may be against us so wish me luck.

Richard