Bee Orchid & Cattle Egret (s)

Lade - 0700hrs - mild, cloudy, drizzle, sunny later - Plenty of moths in the trap this morning, but only Dot Moth and Single-dotted Wave new for the season. Whilst walking the local patch one of the regular dog walkers put me onto an "unusual plant" that turned out to be a Bee Orchid, the first I`ve seen here, and very well found it was too. Elsewhere the Prostrate Broom show has been very poor this spring with only a few bushes in flower. On closer inspection many of the Brooms have been badly wind-burned from the winter gales and appear dead and brittle, although there does seem to be plenty of green growth coming through.

                                Bee Orchid, Lade

                                Prostrate Broom, Lade

Dengemarsh - Another day of rare and scarce overshooting migrants across the peninsula commenced with three Cattle Egrets briefly on the Hayfields. By the time I arrived only one remained which was later relocated on the pastures near Boulderwall, giving distant views. On Hayfield 3 two Blackwits and the usual Little Egrets and Shelducks, plus up to 12 Hobbies over the reedbed and marsh.
In the afternoon a Black Kite flew over the Oppen Pits towards the Obs, and two Black-necked Grebes in summer plum dropped in on Burrowes. Another Honey Buzzard was also seen this morning.
The trouble with most of the rarities this spring has been they`ve either been camera shy (Blyth`s Reed Warbler), distant dots (Bee-eaters - sorry Plod!), brief raptors (Black Kite) or miserably dipped (Long-billed Dowitcher).
Now, what we could do with is a clonking great showy mega, say for example, a Broad-billed Sand on Hayfield 2, or maybe a Trumpeter Finch in the Light Railway car park, how about a Caspian Tern at the Patch and let`s go for broke, a White-crowned Black Wheatear at the bottom of Dengemarsh Gully and a Roller on the wires at Lade - on the same day! Well, we can dream..., but please, no skulking Sprossers, crakes or warblers.