The Five Hide Wander.

Great White Egret Brian Rafferty 

1. Of a five hide wander round Leighton Moss on Tuesday, the one with the most rewarding records was the Public Hide where I had good views of a Great White Egret. The small stoney island on the mere held a nice gathering of eleven waders, 6 Greenshank, 3 Black-tailed Godwit, a Spotted Redshank, and a Ruff. A pair of brutish but smart looking Greater Black-backed Gull gave the appearance of 'ruling the roost' on the island, and a Reed Warbler gave excellent close views in the reeds in front of the hide where 2 Black-tailed Skimmer were also seen.

2. At the Lower Hide 55 Black-tailed Godwit represented the first time I ever saw the species here, a Great-crested Grebe noted, and at least 200 Sand Martin were too and fro feeding over the water with a 'few' Swift and House Martin seen.

3. The Lillian Hide turned up a juvenile Yellow Wagtail, with little else of note save 5 Teal, a drake Gadwall, probably 200 Coot, and a single Swift over.

Marsh Harrier Phillip Tomkinson 

4. The Grisedale Hide had a patrolling juvenile Marsh Harrier over, 3 Snipe, c.20 Goldfinch, and 55 Lapwing found their way into the black book.

5. The Eric Morecambe complex had another Marsh Harrier sighting, waders were estimates of 165 Redshank and similar Dunlin, 6 Greenshank, 6 Black-tailed Godwit, and a Little Egret. 

Kingfisher Noushka Dufort   

As I was about to leave the hide a Kingfisher put on a decent in flight show for me. From the path to the hide I had seen a lot of movement in the bushes and I caught sight of a Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Whitethroat, Greenfinch, and 2 Robin were both juveniles. 

A pleasant five hide wander around the RSPB flagship reserve.

The butterfly and the moth. 

Small Tortoiseshell. Pete Woodruff.

I managed a decent pic of a Small Tortoiseshell in the garden on Tuesday, but it wasn't until the butterfly flew off that I realised a moth was on the flower to the right, it was a smart colourful little creature and I had no idea it was there until I took my eyes off the butterfly by which time the moth too had taken off never too be seen again. A close look and the moth is seen on the right hand flower of the image

Pyrausta purpuralis. Mike Pike. 

But n'er mind I identified it to have been a Pyrausta purpuralis and I'm grateful to Mike Pike for allowing me to copy his image of the moth. Also thanks to Brian/Phillip/Noushka for the other images on Birds2blog in this post, all much appreciated and as always even better with a 'clik the pik'.