Arlington Reservoir

      Scrape Looking Rare!

A look around the patch produced very little again but the wader scrape below the dam looks perfect...shame there will be nothing again this summer/autumn but at least it looks the part! The Turtle Doves were around again which is decent but they seem to have moved a bit. Highlights on the wander were:

Turtle Dove - 2

Little Egret - 3

Swift - 6

Swallow - 40+

Large Skipper

Other than the lack of birds I tried to add a few species to the plant list for the  patch but failed to do so but did record some nice species for the res such as Musk Mallow, Weld and Marsh Bedstraw. Of note however were 8 Pyramidal Orchids amongst the Common Spots. On the dragonfly front there was a stunning male Banded Demoiselle roosting in the sedges as well as a few Azure and Blue-tailed Damselflies. I finally added Large Skipper to the year list and Meadow Brown numbers are now starting to rise but I couldn't locate any Marbled Whites in the usual spots.

         Pyramidal Orchid