MSQ....

An early morning start today to the reserve to look for any Otter activity drew a blank,but plenty of other interesting sightings and photographic oppertunities were had.Bird wise,the only sightings of note included 1 brood of Willow Tits,1 Green Woodpecker,close views of a Common Buzzard being mobbed by a couple of Carrion Crows,a single Lapwing chick on the Orchid marsh near the car park and at least 1 Cuckoo.I still have yet to see a Turtle Dove here this year yet,a real shame as they used to be reguler breeders.
It was more productive on the insect front,with lots of dragons on the wing and several butterfly species,with personal highlights today including my first records of the year for Meadow Brown,Large Skipper and Wall.We also encountered several day flying moths which included Silver-ground Carpet,Yellow Shell,Cinnabar and my first records of the year of Silver Y and Straw Dot,Roger also managed to find a stunning,fresh,Elephant Hawkmoth,a real beauty!.I managed to find a new species of Micro Moth today,Pammene aurana which is a local species and its larva feeds on the seeds of Hogweed.There are also lots of Grasshopper nymphs starting to emerge and i saw two species today Field Grasshopper and Common-green Grasshopper.
Plants and flowers of note included Southern-marsh and Spotted Orchid and hybrid White and Pink Campion.

An enjoyable 9 hour visit today with some nice Company as well in the form of Mike,Roger and Claire.