Wandering White-leg

 Continued with my Monday Barnwell CP addiction this morning though with the school holidays now in full swing I may have to come up with an alternative and less noisy option. An earlyish start saw me taking up my familiar position in the Kingfisher Hide hoping for a view of their majesties.

Kingfisher and Garden Warbler.

At first things looked a little unpromising, I could hear calling coming from neighbouring North Lake but there was initially no activity in front of me. I contented myself by watching the Mandarins feeding or snoozing until a 'fisher put in a welcome appearance. The King or perhaps I should say Queenfisher given that it was a she took up station for a short space of time on one of their favoured islands and I had some good views. She was flushed by a passing dog and sped off out of sight, over the next half an hour or so I had a few more brief sightings of birds in flight. Not many other birds to report other than a family party of Garden Warblers that I enjoyed watching.

White-legged and Small Red-eyed Damselflies.

The highlight amongst the day's odes was a White-legged Damselfly which was only my second ever at this site. I'd imagine it's wandered from somewhere along the Nene though this river does not appear to be very good for this species. Other damsels included the usual cast of characters of which Banded Demoiselles were the commonest. No surprises amongst the dragons though I finally managed to get a few pics of Brown Hawker. Not too bad a selection of butterflies were on offer with an Essex Skipper being the pick of the bunch. I also had some good views of a fresh looking Comma and an equally pristine looking Peacock.

Brown Hawker and Comma.

With the park getting increasingly busy I chose to pop along to the fishing lake near the marina. Best ode was a male Scarce Chaser and I also enjoyed seeing good numbers of Small Red-eyed Damselflies on lilies near the bridge. The lake itself held a reasonable selection of odes though there was nothing out of the ordinary.

Brimstone and another view of her majesty!