Some stuff

So the last couple of weeks I have been back at work and based in Devon. This has been pretty successful with some good birds, some good inverts and some good plants. The first week I was working with Pete and we had the fortune to find a Goshawk territory with some incredible views of the birds going about their business. I managed the following snap which doesn't bare comparison with Pete's selection.

Last week was less birdy although I saw the Goshawks again and had Pied Flycatcher briefly but it had its highlights. Monday commenced early for me as I had to head to Devon via Dartford and had to do some Cetti's Warbler monitoring. My first Lesser Whitethroat of the year was present on the Dartford site and I had pretty much finished work by 9am but I then had to haul to 220 miles to Devon. I had a slow amble down with stops at Portland as I hadn't visited the obs before and managed to catch up with my first Whimbrel and Arctic Skua of the year. A jaunt to the Axe estuary was great as I finally laid eyes on this pretty cool piece of Lyme Bay which I had read about in the Backwater Birding thread, then blogs and latterly through PWC and twitter. Not much in the way of birds, just a handful of Whimbrel but a great place to see.

Pearl-borded Fritillary

Work was largely uneventful but I got to see my Uncle Mike and his wife Maureen. It was the first time I had visited their house in Brixham and it was really good to see them in a different context to recently after more than a decade without making the effort. A hearty meal and we were soon talking rubbish! Work continued to be relatively steady but I did my first butterfly survey and despite the less than ideal conditions we had at least 9 Pearl-bordered Fritillarys. I also found some very early Green-winged Orchids which was a new plant for me.