Dayclubbing

A speculative tootle with my dog around Farndon yesterday evening to look for Club-tailed Dragonfly not only turned up my first Odonata of the year, but some excellent birds too.

A Lesser Whitethroat singing from a hawthorn thicket was a good start, but having my ‘eyes to the skies’ for a change paid dividends with my first and second Hobbies of the year hawking insects high up over the River Dee.

Waiting patiently on the bank of the river for a Club-tailed to zoom past did not pay dividends on the insect front, but a Kingfisher and several Mandarin at least kept me entertained as Becks enjoyed an extended wallow in the water.

When she finally emerged I headed towards Churton, where eventually a couple of Club Tailed Dragonflies registered on the radar! Neither hung around long – both zipped quickly up in to the air – but I had decent view of one of the insects that was in possession of some shiny wings, a telltale sign that it was freshly unwrapped.

A couple more Lesser Whitethroats, plus legions more Commons completed a cracking hour and a half. Good habitat is scarce around Chester, some I must confess to be slightly envious towards anybody who uses this part of the world as their local patch.

In five or six walks around here over the last couple of years I have also seen Cuckoo, Tree Sparrow, Garden Warbler and last spring I heard a Turtle Dove singing. Just up the river is also good for Marsh Tit and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker according to one old hand too!

Not too shabby.

Farndon Townfield Lane 18.05.10

2 Hobby
3 Lesser Whitethroat
6+ Common Whitethroat
1 Sedge Warbler
7 Manadarin
1 Kingfisher
2 GS Woodpecker

Until later.