Lakenheath RSPB Reserve, Cambridgeshire
Saturday July 26th 2014
Day one of my epic East Anglian tour saw me at Lakenheath reserve on a very hot and sunny morning.
Within minutes I had seen three species of dragonfly that are rare in Dorset - brown hawker, ruddy darter and, best of all, my first scarce chaser.
In the heat they just wouldn't keep still enough for photographs, except for the ruddy darters which were very obliging.
Banded demoiselles have become one of the most common dragonflies lately and there were certainly plenty here.
The afternoon was spent on the Suffolk coast at Dunwich where this male common blue was having a bit of trouble hanging on to his leaf.
At the end of my first day in East Anglia, I had seen 54 species of birds, 12 species of butterfly and 7 species of dragonfly.
The best bird was the garganey at Lakenheath but the adult hobby there was more spectacular, flying low over the car park just as I arrived.
I was surprised to see kittiwakes at Southwold, perhaps they were some of the ones breeding at Lowestoft.
The best plants were all on the shingle at Dingle Marshes (Dunwich) with the rare marsh sow-thistle very common there (see below).
It was good to see a few plants of sea pea here as well, the first time I have seen this species away from Dorset.
species list:
Great Crested grebe
Cormorant
Grey heron
Little egret
Mute swan
Grey lag
Mallard
Gadwall
Teal
Garganey
Hobby
Kestrel
Buzzard
Lapwing
Lesser black-backed gull
Great black-backed gull
Herring gull
Black-headed gull
Kittiwake
Common tern
Pheasant
Moorhen
Coot
Woodpigeon
Stock dove
Collared dove
Great-spotted woodpecker
Wren
Dunnock
Starling
Robin
Blackbird
Song thrush
Skylark
Meadow pipit
Rock pipit
Pied wagtail
Swift
Swallow
House Martin
Sedge warbler
Willow warbler
Long-tailed tit
Blue tit
Great tit
Carrion crow
Jackdaw
Rook
Magpie
House sparrow
Chaffinch
Greenfinch
Goldfinch
Linnet
Grey squirrel
Rabbit
Roe deer
Small white
Speckled wood
Meadow brown
Gatekeeper
Grayling
Comma
Red admiral
Small tortoiseshell
Peacock
Painted lady
Common blue
Small skipper
Common footman
Dark arches
Six-spot burnet
Cleg
Horse fly (Chrysops)
Brown hawker
Emperor
Scarce chaser
Ruddy darter
Blue-tailed damselfly
Azure damselfly
Banded demoiselle
Marsh sow-thistle
Sea kale
Yellow horned-poppy
Sea pea
Marsh mallow