August 5th 2011

The morning spent at Draycote Water with the Red-breasted Merganser present but no sign of the Wood Sandpiper.
Farborough spit had 4 Dunlin, adult Ringed Plover and 3 Little Ringed Plover while 4 of the 11 Common Sandpipers present today were seen in various locations. Also seen were 4 Swift, Yellow Wagtail, 2 Yellow-legged Gull and 2 Common Tern.
Tried my luck in the lower car park looking for warblers and butterflies managing 2 Lesser Whitethroat, Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, 2 Blackcap and Willow Warbler plus 5 Common Blue, Small Copper, 12 Gatekeeper, Large White, 4 Meadow Brown and 3 Green-veined White.
Met up with Dave in the afternoon and called in on the Just So and the Bridge Nursery so once finished chatting we looked around there garden finding Small Copper, Common Blue, Peacock, Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Large White, Brown Argus, Red Admiral and Green-veined White butterflies. Dragonflies around the pond included Southern Hawker, Brown Hawker, Common Darter and Blue-tailed Damselfly while the only moth of note was a Shaded broad-bar. Other sightings included a Grass Snake stirring in the water briefly and male Linnet. Napton Reservoir had some disturbance with workmen so only bird of note were Sedge Warbler and Common Sandpiper while the small pool held Brown, Southern and Migrant Hawker, Common Darter, Red-eyed, Common Blue, and Blue-tailed Damselfly and Emperor Dragonfly.

Richard