Dipping on Darters at Pitsford.

A sighting of Red-veined Darter at Pitsford reservoir yesterday backed up by a cracking piccy prompted an after work twitch as a friend and I nipped over this afternoon. Stopping at the fishing lodge in order to buy a permit I checked the butterflies feeding on the buddleia bushes and enjoyed views of several Red Admirals, a Comma and a Small Tortoiseshell. A Migrant Hawker was hunting over the grassy area nearby and the signs looked encouraging.

Common Darter, nice but not quite what we were looking for.

Walking out towards Scaldwell hide we picked out a Ruff on the water's edge, the level is really low at the moment and the place is looking great for waders. A distant Great White Egret was picked out and a good number of duck was present. We reached the area where the darter was seen and there were a few darters living up to their name and darting around but sadly the sun disappeared behind the clouds and all activity ceased. From then onwards there were only brief bursts of sunshine and we could not add to our haul of Commons and one Ruddy. The duller weather did not deter a Southern Hawker which flew around us several times before heading off.

Ruff.

Green Sandpiper.

A scope of the surrounding shoreline produced some nice waders of which a Spotted Redshank was the pick. At least five Greenshanks, some of which were very vocal and a similar number of Ruff were picked out. Two Black-tailed Godwits and a Green Sandpiper joined a Common Sandpiper that we had seen earlier on the day list. Another treat was a brace of Whinchats which were my first in the county this year.

Red Admiral.

Other things of interest included Speckled Woods and Small Whites as well as a slightly strange looking Garden Spider with a yellowy looking abdomen.

My wife will not like this picture at all!