First Darter

A bit of SSE early on but quickly shifted to west by mid morning. The sun shone for most of the day, making it quite warm.

Middleton Nature Reserve - late morning

Both Janet and myself (MD) checked different areas this morning. First a nice set of pictures from Janet, as ever with Janet's pictures they should be opened to see the detail.

Ringlet were suddenly abundant 

Female Broad-bodied Chaser ovipositoring - the male was buzzing around above her

Narrow-bordered Five-Spot Burnet Moth

Juvenile Little Grebes, acting juvenile!

Meanwhile the adult was fishing 

Lesser Whitethroat 

The following lists are a combination of what we both saw and heard

There weren't many singing warblers, just:

Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Balckcap and a solitary Common Whitethroat 

Butterflies, quite a variety, but with the exception of the Ringlet not high numbers. In order of abundance:

Ringlet

Common Blue 

Small Heath 

Meadow Brown 

Whites (either Small or Green Veined or both)

Large Skipper

Speckled Wood 

Red Admiral

Painted Lady

Small Tortoiseshell 

Moths

Silver Y

Cinnabar 

Narrow-bordered Five-Spot

Dragonflies:

Emperor

Broad-bodied Chaser

Four-Spotted Chaser

Black-Tailed Skimmer

Male Black-Tailed Skimmer with a male Common Blue Damselfly

Darter, there were a couple flitting about, but didn't manage a totally conclusive view, but pretty sure they were Common (MD)

Looks to be a Common Darter

Large Red Damselfly
Unusual for a damselfly, resting with its wings spread

Swift 3 and House Martin 2 feeding over the main pond 

Mute 2 adult with 7 cygnets 

Moorhen 2 adult 1 chick

Mallard 7 male now in eclipse 2 female with 1 and 5 young

Little grebe 3 adult 2 juvenile 

The Bee Orchids have had a good year and can be found all around the reserve, but they are already getting past their best.

On her way off the reserve, Janet ventured too close to a nesting Lesser Black-Backed gull, and was duly dive bombed!