Thankfully it was a it cooler today, with a light but very welcome breeze. I journeyed southwards to visit RSPB Winterbourne Downs which is mainly a wildflower meadow but does have an area where stonecurlews breed. l left the carpark and followed a mown grassy path lined with bramble bushes. These were attracting many butterflies and some dragonflies too, mainly meadow browns, gatekeepers together with some whites, a peacock and red admiral. I stopped at the stone curlew viewing point but it did say on the notice that you would require binoculars or telescope to see the birds. The vegetation had also grown quite tall so it was unsurprising I coudn't see anything. Another feature of the reserve is a man made S shaped chalk butterfly bank. This was covered in flowers but there were not that many chalkland species to be seen, I only spotted one small blue.
Having completed my visit, I then drove to nearby Langford lakes, a wildlife trust reserve where for 12 days a red footed falcon has been delighting visitors . It was last seen on Monday so the reserve was a lot quieter today than it has been. From the Meadow hide at the far end of the reserve I could see how people were able to get such fantastic shots of it perching on a post, however I think that social distancing rules were largely forgotten in birders' desire to see this bird so I do wonder how many people were 'pinged' as a result.
There was not much else in the way of birding really, but I did spot more gatekeeper butterflies and a second painted lady of the year. Dragonflies were continually buzzing around as they fed on insects but very rarely settling. Although a very quiet time of year, it was nice to visit a couple of new places.
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