Fish Eagle and New Moth sp.........

Pisaura mirablis,with egg case.

Hairy Snail.

Cinnabar Moth larva.

Red-tipped Clearwing.

Male Common-green Grasshopper.

Musk Thistles.

Bonby Carrs.

With the prospect of some much better weather than the previous day,i made my way to MSQ after dropping Trace at work.Today was a complete contrast to yesterdays heavy rain,but it was still apparent around the reserve with several large puddles on the pathways.Bird highlights today were provided by a cracking Osprey which was watched being mobbed by Black-headed Gulls and Common Terns as it passed by over the Grebe lake,with a few half hearted attempts at hovering.It then carried on over Manton fishing lakes before i lost it from view.This is the first Osprey i have managed to see this year,so was a welcome bonus.Surely it must be a wandering immature bird,as last years summering bird at Bonby,as i would of thought it was too early for adults to be migrating yet.Unfortunately i didn't get a very good view of its underparts to confirm this.Also on the raptor front,a single 2nd calendar year Hobby was watched hawking dragonflies over the edge of the main lake/plantation area,always great to see with their superb aerial prowess,catching the dragonflies in its feet and eating them in mid-air,great stuff!.Also seen today and another first for the year,was a singing male Turtle Dove in the car park area,it is so sad that this species has declined so dramatically in this country and hopefully things will change for the better.The only other bird of note was a single Siskin in the plantation and 1 Willow Tit,with a mixed Tit flock foraging together.Insects again were in abundance with me finding a 'Mega' in personal terms,a single Red-tipped Clearwing watched nectaring on a Creeping Thistle flower.This is the first confirmed sighting of this species for myself,after i saw an unidentified Clearwing moth a few years ago at Crowle,but didn't manage to obtain any photos of it.This individual was pretty worn,sadly,but a great sighting all the same and smaller than i had imagined also.Butterflies are right down in numbers,because of the poor weather conditions,but on the plus side i managed to find at least 17 Brimstone larva.Other interesting insect sightings included a single Conops quadrifasciata,1 Oxycera rara and several Stratiomys potamida.The only notable mammal sighting went to a lovely Fox seen near the car park,always a privilege to see.Plant wise,the first Marsh and Dune Helleborines are beginning to almost flower properly and their are still plenty of Southern-marsh and Common-spotted Orchids dotted about around the reserve.After visiting Messingham,i travelled over to Bonby Carrs to look for Puss Moth larva,but unfortunately didn't manage to find any,but found at least 15 Sallow Kitten larva.The Sallow Kittens were tiny and it will be at least another couple of weeks before they have reached full size,so i will revisit then.So another great day was had today,with some great weather and sightings to boot.