Turtle Dove at Weybread GPs, 24 May 2017

I checked part of my patch at Weybread this afternoon, mainly for odonata but had a bit of a surprise. A singing male Turtle Dove in the large willow that overlooks Lily Pad Pit! It sat singing for some while allowing me to get some photographs before flying backwards and forwards a couple of times. The local Swallows were going mad and a glance upwards revealed the caue of their consternation - a large female Sparrowhawk. Also around Lily Pad Pit were 7 species of odonata - Red-eyed Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly, Banded Demoiselle, Four-spotted Chaser and then a Hairy Dragonfly which was my first at the site. Back at my van a young Treecreeper showed very nicely for a protracted period and 2 Common Terns flew noisily over.

A walk down to the mill gave me a pair of Grey Wagtails, 2 more Hairy Dragonflies, Red-eyed Damselflies, a handful of Banded Demoiselles and a couple of Green Nettle Weevils.

Earlier I'd visited an ancient meadow site where I was delighted to find a wide variety of Green-winged Orchids including the specimen below which appears to be 2 colour morphs in 1 and several of the variation 'alba'. Also there were some nice Adder's Tongue my first Silver-Y of the year, Common Blue, Large White and Small Copper.