Warblers of different sorts were being trapped and ringed in the mist nets this week and it’s a wonderful opportunity to get a really good look at them. They are on the move already out of the country and back to their wintering grounds and will now be wearing a shiny silver ring meaning they can be tracked back to these meadows if ever caught again.

We are still putting oil seed rape down onto the bare earth strip (or the weedy strip as it is now). The Linnets continue to enjoy it.

The Sparrowhawk has been visiting the pond. Her tail feathers remind me of a gingham tablecloth which is a homely thought that is strangely at odds with the scary animal that she is.

One of our bird feeders is getting emptied really fast. We had hung it in close to a hedgerow to give the birds some protection so that they could feel more secure whilst using it. The black sunflower seeds were disappearing so quickly we thought that they must be loving it. However, I thought I would just check it out:

We have moved the feeder back away from the hedgerow now.

In this long, hot Summer, we are having a fantastic butterfly year.

I read in the most recent RSPB magazine that, during the war, the coastguards thought they had spotted a cloud of mustard gas coming across the channel towards the UK. But it turned out to be thousands of these Clouded Yellow butterflies migrating here. They are called Clouded Yellows and this may have come from ‘Clouds of Yellow’ as they arrive across the sea in swarms some years. They breed in the UK once they get here but cannot survive our Winters.

That would have been a good yellow-on-yellow photo had I managed to actually get it in focus but this butterfly was not prepared to sit still for me. This next one’s in focus, though. We have loads of second brood Common Blues on the wing right now:

And here is a Comma on  Teasel head:

After the rains of last week, the weather has reverted to day after day of strong heat. We have taken to walking down at high tide to the pebbly beach below the meadows and taking a cooling dip. This is an extremely nice way to spend half an hour and something we will remember with pleasure in the depths of winter when in the grip of howling gales and chilling temperatures.