The Lyons Share

I went looking for migrants today at Beachy Head with Jo and Oli and saw a few bits. There are lots of Bloody-nosed Beetles around still. This is the biggest leaf beetle in the UK and is a really slow thing that can't fly. As a result there are a lot of squashed ones on the paths. So called because they extrude a drop of red liquid from their mouth when threatened, that is meant to scare off birds. I don't get how this works really. It seems a bit like extruding peanuts from your mouth to scare of tits. Just realised how wrong that sounds. Anyway, you get the idea. Red for danger and all that. I'm sure it tastes bad too. It didn't work on me though!

Bird of the day was a distant golden-headed female Marsh Harrier. Corvids were mobbing every raptor so they were easy to see. Also saw a Peregrine and a pair of Sparrowhawks. Passerines included, 4 Whinchats, 20+ Whitethroats, Lesser Whitethroat and Yellow Wagtail. I also saw my first Clouded Yellow of the year but couldn't get anywhere near it to take a photo and two Painted Ladies. Several Adonis Blues were also showing off. I hung around the toilets for a bit and found a White-point and a Mullein Wave. It was good to relax today but I did not manage to find anything new, must try harder!