Summer Days Drifting Away

Another Monday sortie to the Oundle area where I walked along the Nene from the north to south bridges taken a detour into Barnwell CP on the way. Some decent spells of sunshine made for a pleasant walk even if there was not always something interesting to watch.

River view and Egyptian Goose.

There seemed to be good numbers of Chiffchaffs around while migration is still on going with Skylarks and Siskins once again passing trough. Ashton Mill had several Marsh Tits amongst a large flock of other tits. Exotic wildfowl were represented by a drake Mandarin at the Princess fishing lake and an Egyptian Goose at the marina. Barnwell CP had several Kingfishers flying around though they were not today's top bird. That honour belonged to a juvenile Hobby that treated me to several flypasts before settling down to perch in a tree. Although the light at this point was poor I did manage a few photographs, hopefully it will have a safe trip down to Africa. The Hobby was one of five raptors seen today with Red Kites making up most of the numbers.

Juvenile Hobby.

While no butterflies were found today there were several dragons and more importantly one damsel on view. The damsel was the much hoped for Willow Emerald as I finally managed to find a male. It was seen from the open hide close to the very popular Kingfisher Hide in an area that I've been checking regularly, persistence pays off! Common Darters and Migrant Hawkers were the other species seen and will no doubt continue to provide most sightings until the end of the season.