Isn't that just typical? Beautiful weather for months during lock-down, and then as soon as the regulations are relaxed the weather turns. However this afternoon they are forecasting sunny spells so time to pluck up courage, renew my visa and take my first trip to Amwell this year.
I was expecting good numbers of dragonflies at Tumbling Bay but turned out not to be the case, The vast area of lily pads held just a couple of pairs of Red-eyed Damselflies and these were typically on the outer edges.
Over by the beach a single Blue-tailed Damselfly was resting on a leaf and a Common Blue Damselfly was perched up on a stem. There were also two Norfolk Hawkers flying around the pond but these never settled, at least not in view.
The only poser today was this male Black-tailed Skimmer that was enjoying the heat of the gravel.
Up at the viewpoint the main points of interest were three Ringed Plovers but these were distant, and a single Snipe which scuttled into the reeds as quickly as it had appeared. The main attraction here was a pair of Egyptian Geese. These have increased in numbers considerably since I first started visiting Amwell 50 years ago.
It is now fairly common to see large gulls in the Lea Valley during the summer months, which is bad news for young chicks which, apart from hiding away, are sitting targets. This Lesser Black-backed Gull appeared with a chick which at first I had assumed was a duckling or small gosling, but a closer inspection of the plumage revealed that it was in fact a Black-headed Gull chick and not a particularly small one. The gull didn't seem to know what to do with it as it had difficulty in swallowing it whole.
But the star was once again a very obliging Whitethroat which luckily was singing its heart out in a rather bare lichen-covered Elder. That'll do me.
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