Large Bee-fly

Another morning at the patch but with clear conditions today and over the last couple of days it was no surprise to find little sign of migration. 2 Cuckoos over north calling early morning, 1 Common Tern E and 1 Barn Swallow S were the only migrants seen actually on the move, and 4 (1m, 3f) Northern Wheatear around the anthills in the north-west corner could be some of yesterday's birds. Other notables on Staines Moor were 2+ Hobby, 2 Red Kite, 1+ Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Garden Warbler, 2 Little Egret along the Colne, 1 Kingfisher along the River Wraysbury, 1 Mistle Thrush, a pair of Gadwall over, 5 (3m, 2f) Reed Bunting, 5+ Northern Lapwing, 1-2 Sparrowhawk and lots of Linnet.

Found some cool bugs including a brilliant Large Bee-fly (or Dark-edged Bee-fly) Bombylius major feeding on Bugle Ajuga reptans flowers along the railway embankment footpath. What an amazing creature! Even though it's quite a slow flyer it still gave the macro lens a run for it's money.

Large Bee-fly Bombylius major

Large Bee-fly Bombylius major

Also found a couple of hoverflies including this one.

Syrphus sp.

Butterflies seen include 2 male Orange-tip Anthocharis cardamines, several Peacock Aglais io, and a Brimstone Gonepteryx rhamni.

Brimstone Gonepteryx rhamni

On Stanwell Moor; 1 Cuckoo, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Garden Warbler, 3+ Barn Swallow, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers (potentially nesting) and 1-2 Northern Lapwing over were noted. No sign of the Gropper today but I didn't wait around for long.

Weather: Sunny, warm, clear sky (1 okta), no wind early morning increasing to a light westerly.