Christine's walking & birds blog

Burnham Beeches

A late-afternoon visit to the Beeches brought a male Emperor Dragonfly hunting round the moat. 

A commotion in the oak trees drew my attention to a jay which had grabbed a blue tit.

Within ten minutes, the jay (or a second individual) had seized what looked like a great tit fledgling.

From the boardwalk across the Mire, I watched a blackcap family moving through the birch scrub. Turning away I was thrilled to see a dark, thick snake on a crumbling log, and just managed a shot before it slid out of sight.

I wasn't sure at the time but when he saw the photo Greger recognised it at once as they were fairly common on the farm where he grew up. It's an Adder - probably a female.

Two chiffchaffs, three wrens and a blackbird were singing; and on the dragonfly front, a female Broad-bodied Chaser was seen a little way off.