Drizzle, on and off, for our visit to Summer Leys meant we immediately dived into the two hides near the car park. From the Rotary hide we admired a Tufted Duck with its ten chicks following it in line and saw a Great Crested Grebe on its nest. Moving on to the Pioneer hide there were a few Little Egret on the Scrape plus a Great White Egret (pictured above), a Grey Heron, a few Lapwing and some Coot with their chicks; some of us spotted a flyover Green Woodpecker. Oystercatcher and Common Tern were seen on some of the islands while a flock of Swift whirled around overhead. At the Feeding Station, after a short wait, Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tit were seen plus some Greenfinch. Walking around the reserve some reasonable views were had of Chiffchaff, Sedge, Reed and Garden Warbler. Almost around the reserve, the drizzle ceased for good, the temperature and humidity increased dramatically and, at last, butterflies were seen. We observed several Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Red Admiral, Common Blue, a Brimstone and a Small Copper. Later still, dragonflies emerged and we saw Brown Hawker, Emperor and Scarce Chaser. Quite the best birding day we’d had for a while!
Bruce White