I had a meet in Newport just before midday, so took off to Goldcliffe/Boat Lane/Uskmouth after.
Starting at Goldcliffe there was a good mix of waders and duck, with the first 6 Pintail of the winter having arrived since I was down last week. 9 Knot and 15 Avocet were also additions from last week - and at least 8 Ruff. The Dunlin and Ringed Plover flock decided to roost behingd the island, and with the heat haze (honest!), it wasn't possible to work through them to see if anything more interesting had joined them.
The heat did bring the butterflies and dragonflies out with the best being a smart male Ruddy Darter.
A walk down Boat Lane produced a nice male Southern Hawker
and then I completed a hat trick of British Groundhoppers for the year with a Cerpeo's Groundhopper on the seawall - also a Painted Lady.
I finished off with a walk around Uskmouth, half hoping for a Clouded Yellow, when I spotted a large beetle at the edge of the path.
Lesser Stag Beetle. excellent!
Starting at Goldcliffe there was a good mix of waders and duck, with the first 6 Pintail of the winter having arrived since I was down last week. 9 Knot and 15 Avocet were also additions from last week - and at least 8 Ruff. The Dunlin and Ringed Plover flock decided to roost behingd the island, and with the heat haze (honest!), it wasn't possible to work through them to see if anything more interesting had joined them.
The heat did bring the butterflies and dragonflies out with the best being a smart male Ruddy Darter.
A walk down Boat Lane produced a nice male Southern Hawker
and then I completed a hat trick of British Groundhoppers for the year with a Cerpeo's Groundhopper on the seawall - also a Painted Lady.
Cracking beetle Martin
ReplyDeleteMartin could the provide details of the groundhopper to SEWBReC please. Could be first county record.
ReplyDeleteSteve Williams
Steve,
ReplyDeleteThe record has gone into irecord, along with a couple of photo's inc' a dorsal view that shows the head shape