Despite the grim weather I am pleased to say that the newest brood of lapwing still number at least two, although they must be finding life hard, small fluffy chicks and rain do not mix well. Unfortunately I cannot be sure that the large lapwing chick has flown, it was very big when I last saw it, but now seems to have gone missing, hopefully it has just flown off. At the end of the day the pair of Egyptian geese were right in front of the hide with their single remaining youngster. The rise of Egyptian geese from occassional escapees to increasingly regular breeding bird is a bit of a concern. They are very aggressive when nesting and will displace other species. In parts of Belgium and Holland they are already becoming very common and there seem no reason why they should not become so here.
I spent a good bit of the day ferrying materials around, along the way I saw several bee orchid near the Lapwing hide and a single spotted orchid a little further south. On the silt pond near the Lapwing hide there was a brood of gadwall, the first I have seen this year. This pond has done well for breeding birds this year with both great crested and little grebe nesting there as well. I also took a quick look from the hide and found a family party of swallow perched on the fence wire just below the windows, typically in such situations, I did not have my camera.
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