A suitably bright morning as befits a Volunteer Thursday, in fact right at the start of the day it was actually sunny and warm, so much so that I came across a painted lady butterfly in the main car park as I opened up the Tern hide.
painted lady
This is the first painted lady I have seen for a couple of months and it is interesting to speculate if it is a new migrant or the offspring of an earlier arrival. The same can be asked fo the some of the red admirals that I have seen this week, although they have been of two distinct types, either very battered and faded, possibly after a long flight, or pristine as though just hatched. The only other potential migrants recently have been a few silver Y moths, all of which have been fresh looking, below is one from the trap yesterday.
silver Y
The volunteers finished clearing and stacking the brash from the tree we felled yesterday, dead hedging it beside the path. We also cut some sections of the trunk to make seats for the education team to use with visiting school groups. Meanwhile the rest of the group sorted out the bird feeders and continued installing cable ducting. As there was a little time left at the end of the task we went to take a look at an area we had been working in last autumn near Ivy Lake, the habitat has developed really well and it was good for everyone to see the results of their labours.
Unfortunately the sunshine gave way to cloud during the morning and by mid afternoon showers had started as the next weather system started to assert itself. Overnight we are promised another burst of heavy rain and a wet weekend to follow, not the weather to help nesting waders and common terns. I hope the quality of our tern chick shelters will at least keep them dry, but they will not help the adults as they battle to catch enough small fish to keep the chicks fed.
Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve 
Your blogs are excellent as are your pictures, please keep up the good work as I am avid follower. Very well done it is appreciated,