I had to give the south end of the pond the chance to turn up a wader so headed off in that direction, choosing to give the ‘puddle’ in an adjacent field a final look of the spring, as its unlikely to last another week before being consigned to a mere patch of dried mud again. Amazingly, there was my wader; a little ringed plover to boot! This species appeared annually over 2013-15, but with the dry conditions of last year had not turned up – or at least if it did, I didn’t see it. The actual pond revealed nothing so it was onward and westward in an increasingly strong and cooling wind. Two wheatears were a pair, but even at this stage of the year, they aren’t going to stay. Gulls passing over had by this time (midday) reduced to countable numbers and it took me just 15 minutes to ‘click-up’ 1009. Given this rate, I retro-fitted some formula or other (a guesstimate by any other name!) to get to the likelihood that upwards of 10,000 or more had headed north since I arrived within the bounds of the reserve… and they were still passing over.

From this point in proceedings, I decided to see how the Mute Swans were faring so headed initially west across the reserve and then north up the Gowy to the permissive footpath, seeing not too much for my troubles apart from a pair of stonechats, six more wheatears, a whinchat and two ravens. The former were particularly interesting as with both ‘parents’ out together it might indicate a nest full of chicks needing feeding nearby. Passing through the herd of moos, I noticed something I’d never seen before, grey herons impersonating cattle egrets. Two were closely stalking moos through tall sedges, clearly hoping for something to be disturbed for them to munch on. That I was in plain sight, not 40 metres away told of their concentration levels; there were in fact eight herons on the reserve today, all adults.

The permissive footpath was quite active, with whitethroats trying to out-sing reed and sedge warblers, chiffchaffs and another two ravens were overhead, being mobbed relentlessly by crows. With no moos to disturb in the field hosting the other main pond on the reserve, the opportunity to check it out for the first time in a while was too good to miss. Nothing too consequential apart from a pair of mistle thrushes and a late snipe enjoying the gooey conditions at the north end of the pool but it was nonetheless good to be able to confirm mallard, moorhen, coot and canada goose (four), as all being present. Mummy mute swan was fast asleep on her nest so went undisturbed too. With no butterflies on the way home it was a quiet end to what had been an exciting day in parts.

Six lapwing loafed around and (following on from the previous day), the latest ever snipe for Gowy Meadows flushed from under my feet – just the fourth May record ever. That there were just two male whitethroats singing all day was a little concerning as theoretically at least they ought to be back in full strength by this time. The spring has thus far, having produced more lesser whitethroats than common, is unprecedented. Yet another stunning male brimstone butterfly then stole the show; it or another was seen about 200 metres away only a minute or so later… it could have been the same insect… possibly.

The next thing I did was to scare the living daylights out of a heron which thought it was having a peaceful time feeding, but no. Sudden, loud, audible profanities will scare most things – but it had its revenge since it scared me to a similar degree as it exploded from three metres away! Why the profanities; a macro moth. Why I thought I should have seen it before it took flight is up for question, but as it happens it flew about me for around a minute and then incredibly proceeded to perch up on a hawthorn trunk, revealing itself to be a may highflyer, a species new for both my local patch and of course for Gowy Meadows! Whilst I was photographing it, it flushed again and actually landed on me briefly before finally disappearing into the grasses; superb, my 218th species for the reserve – without ever having used a light trap! 

On finishing the transect I switched my attention to the main pond in SJ4373, noting singing sedge warblers, two adult little grebes and a female mallard being trailed by 13 young! Ignoring transect G_W (Green, West) as its essentially a dragonfly transect, I headed north up the river, stopping briefly to discover four wheatears and see that Thornton Brook was neck deep in tiny sticklebacks and tadpoles that were actually bigger than most of the fishes!

So to transect R_N (Red, North). It was almost deathly quiet and with the increasing wind causing virtually everything to stay down and silent it was only half an hour in the processing. A lapwing in the area was a good sign as there had been two a couple of weeks earlier. The same was true of mistle thrush and six canadas, four of which are now attempting not to look furtive when I am close by! There were however warblers, with unseen reed and sedge warblers, blackcap, whitethroat and chiffchaff all doing their best in the unhelpful conditions. Mummy mute swan was still on her nest, and with that having been the case for just over a month the probability is that in a week or so whatever is under her will hatch out. Before leaving the reserve to head home I stayed a whiles on the bridge over the stream about half way along the transect. Not too much was on the move but the first Episyrphus balteatus hoverfly of the year showed alongside the beautiful froghopper Cercopis vulnerata, which I may have only seen once before on the reserve.

On opening the bedroom curtains on 20th, conditions looked so perfect (sunny and no wind) I reached for the hoverfly book, some pots and my butterfly net, set to spend the time in the field insecting – birds, unlikely to get in the way at the end of May… So when I opened the front door to a practical gale and slate grey skies only 10 minutes later I thought someone was having a laugh… how on earth can the conditions have changed so dramatically in such a short space of time!! Committed, I continued with plan A, beginning by walking the meadows south of Speckled Wood Lane and within minutes I’d wet lower legs, shoes, socks and feet again – oh joy. It was hard work, but a single small yellow underwing eased the pain a little. Odd spots of rain began falling – nothing serious, but unhelpful at best… a few azure and then the years first blue-tailed damselfly appeared next but star of the meadows was a superb wasp beetle (Clytus arietis, photo right), just my second on Gowy Meadows. The third ever Parhelophilus frutetorum hoverfly added further interest before I called time on actual meadows and headed for the main pond in SJ4373, taking in the last 100 metres of Speckled Wood Lane on the way. BOOM! Thanks to having brought the net with me I managed to catch Gowy’s first Nematopogon swammerdamella micro-moth, the fourth of the so-called longhorns on the reserve so far this year!

The pond itself was disappointingly bereft of much water and looking at the skies I admitted to having mixed feelings – I wouldn’t mind getting a good soaking if it meant the water levels might rise an inch or two. What was left of the pond at its southern end at least had a wader, if only a lapwing but there was also an intriguing group of duck. More exactly a group of weird ducklings and their mother…

Notwithstanding that two of the ducklings were…yellow… with orange bills, all the rest had dark bills with no reddish tip – so presumably were not mallard. Looking at the female more closely, she didn’t have a typical mallard bill either, in fact it looked distinctly shoveler-like.…only the rest of her didn’t fit for that species. I needed a closer look, so moved towards then – they didn’t move a muscle but had clearly reasoned I was a threat even at 100 metres. Two things then happened; firstly I disturbed a dozen Bactra lancealana moths from the sedges – and in stopping momentarily to identify one that had perched up, I’d given the family the few seconds they needed to get out of sight!! The must have moved like lightning to disappear as they did, so well done to one and all. Hopefully they will stick around long enough for me to cross paths with them again and confirm their ID.

The rain then became persistent and the sky was pretty much the same colour as the land…I was forcibly reminded of the epic statement used by those delivering the shipping forecast on radio…’precipitation in sight’ – never truer than the present when precipitation in sight was practically the case for all of the 360 degrees! For the first time in years, and maybe because of not being dressed for adverse weather, I headed for home, getting a tad moist on the way – no complaints really as any day with new species for the reserve can’t be all bad – and we need the water!

There was an impromptu trip on 23rd caused by the good weather and wanting to see how the mute swans were doing. As such, it was essentially just an idle wander of the permissive footpath along the northern boundary of the reserve. Plenty of moth, dragonfly and butterfly activity resulted in several Pammene argyrana micro-moths, the first four-spotted chaser and small coppers of the year – but no mute swans! The nest looked in good condition, a few feathers still in the cup but nothing else and nothing to suggest that there hadn’t been a successful end to the 42 days incubation. All that’s left to do now is wait and see when and where the family turns up and how many of them there are. One male orange tip was a bit of a surprise but there have been local records into the first week of June in the past.

Holidays abroad and abysmal weather meant that the next time I got onto the reserve was on 17th June and I had a difficult decision to make; with it being fairly late on in the breeding season (and blisteringly hot) should I do another transect, or should I bow to insect pressure and wander west within the field? It became easier once I’d seen the fields – the grasses were practically up to my waist… transect it was…or that was the original plan. After a few metres it was clear that there were practically no birds either moving around, calling or singing. Nonetheless, I’d written transect into my notebook so whilst I slowly walked west I was listening and tapping the bushes and trees with my butterfly net. There were scores of Anthophila fabriciana moths and a few Celypha lacunana, the latter will become the dominant moth for a while before the grass moths kick in. One or two speckled woods showed up and then, in quick succession, a snout and a Dipleurina lacustrata, two moths I’d only recorded once previously on the reserve and that back in 2014. Common and silver-ground carpets followed then what would have undoubtedly have been a first for the reserve found itself in the net…unfortunately it lacked enough scales to allow me to identify it! In the same catch there was the nice surprise of a lovely orange ladybird as well as a harlequin larva. It just goes to show that there’s masses of life around – I’d only been attempting to capture the moth!

On approaching the kissing gate there was a herd of young moos that immediately became fascinated with me, so as is customary I played a game of ‘touch nose’ with a few of them before getting on with the counting. Walking north up the river was in fact very pleasant…there were dozens of demoiselles and nine emperor dragonflies the latter being the equal highest day count ever though there was only one female. By the time I reached the A5117 the demoiselle count had risen to 320+ which was probably excellent given the conditions. Today’s second new moth for the reserve was also found along the river, and posed beautifully as its name implied it should, on a thistle. Thitsle ermine is a species that turned up in the garden trap regularly until last seen in 2007 so this was a very pleasant find on several counts. There was never going to be a second attempt at a transect along the northern boundary of the reserve, so it turned out to be just a nice walk looking for anything that crossed my path Three narrow-bordered five-spot burnets did just that but there was no sign of burnet companion or mother shipton, which was a disappointment. The only other highlight was the years first common darter.

Returning garbage weekend weather meant that this was the only trip to the reserve in June, by which time the years bird list had risen to 88, already the fifth best year ever and with half a year to go! However, looking at potential additions its not going to be extremely difficult getting to the magical 100.