Christine's walking & birds blog

Yesterday I got caught in a real downpour on Dorney Common when I went down to see the pectoral sandpiper reported by another birder. It was a lovely wader but photography was out of the question. A green sandpiper and a kingfisher were also seen. Earlier, Greger walked out towards Cookham and reported that the cuckoo was still there.

In the garden this morning, a gatekeeper butterfly nectared on marjoram while underneath, a wasp scavenged from a dead bumble bee - killed possibly by the heavy rain yesterday. Bees often simply drop dead "in harness" towards the end of the summer, but after another recent deluge I noticed four or five bumble bee corpses on the flowers, while a drenched cuckoo bee was stumbling through the wet grass. Too much of a coincidence perhaps.

This afternoon I went for a walk across Widbrook Common hoping to get an even later cuckoo sighting than August 1st; but the cuckoo was nowhere to be seen. There were a few compensations, such as this hobby launching itself from the cuckoo's tree in a flurry of blue and red, and scattering dragonfly wings as it goes.

A weasel popped out from the wheat, realised I was there, and spun on its heels to dart back into cover. 

It soon emerged again, running across the path and disappearing into the tangle of long grass, thistles, brambles, and hogweed growing along the brook.