patchy sun

 My first Sympetrum danae of the year appeared at Bränneslätt this afternoon.

Had half-an-hour at Ranarpsstrand in the morning and finally added avocet (1) to my BK year list, otherwise quiet with just 6 dunlin to write about.

The sun came out in the afternoon though (a very notable occurrence) so we all dashed out to pick blueberries at Bränneslätt. Managed to flush an aeshnid that would have been a year-tick but did add Sympetrum danae to the list. One side-effect of the appalling weather is a bumper blueberry harvest this year - sweet! Laden with berries we headed to our next site but the sun vanished by the time we got to Perstorp enefälad unfortunately and we searched for butterflies in vain, literally picking up an Idas blue for our troubles.

Last stop of the day was Klarningen for a quick look through the waders. Overnight rain has pushed up the water levels and there were fewer calidrids about as a result. The Temminck's stint and baout 20 dunlin remained but I could not find any curlew sandpipers. Also here a few ruff, ten greenshank and a single spotted redshank.

An Allantus sawfly spotted at Perstorp enefälad this afternoon, anyone know which one?

More dragging

Another sunny day so I went out searching for Odonata, inspired by yesterday's effortless score. Today though was different, I worked hard for little gain. Spent most of the day in Halland too so it did not count towards the Atlas! The morning was spent walking into Eskilstorpsdammar and searching through the many ponds on this impressive man-made site. I had thought I might have missed some species last time but this visit produced many of the same species and only added Orthetrum cancellatum and Calopteryx splendens into the mix. No surprises then. Bird-wise things were quiet, just a single singing male grasshopper warbler.

Leucorrhinia rubicunda near Baramossa (Halland).

Nipped home to pick up the team and a big picnic and we headed out. A quick stop at Ehrenstorp produced nothing unusual and then we stopped for lunch at Perstorp enefälad. More false heath fritillaries here and today purple-edged coppers were also on the wing. Driving on we checked a small pond near Baramossa which had more purple-edged coppers and the day's only Leucorrhinia rubicunda. Last stop of the day was another look at the lake at Pennebo. I was hoping to discover Epitheca here, but none were flying today. Are they there? We did see plenty of Calopteryx virgo in the outflow stream and also had a single Brachytron, both species not noted last visit.