Monday, June 04, 2012
Close encounters of a non-avian kind
It's a thankless task, birding summer woods in poor visibility and drizzle; but someone's got to do it. Burnham Beeches was my destination yet again, and although I failed to relocate the spotted flycatcher and the pipit I was pleased to add house martins, kestrel and a singing willow warbler to the weekend's BB list.
This insect zoomed past me and landed on the ground for a nanosecond; it's the predatory Green Tiger Beetle, quite common apparently but a new one for me.
Burnham Beeches was really busy and the boardwalk was hopeless; so when the sun struggled out I tried another spot for snakes. This Adder was inches away from me, and it started to slither off along the log before I realised it was there. It didn't go far; like me, it needed the sun.
It's nice to know, after the dizzy heights of Scotland with its ptarmigan and its glamorous grebes, that standing on a scrap of southern heathland watching an Adder while a blackcap and a goldcrest burst into song nearby can still deliver a buzz, and leave me with the feeling that my day has not been wasted.
// posted by Christine @ 10:22 AM 
