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| Chaffinch at
the bird feeder |
An orange tip
patrols the sunny clearings. |
A brimstone,
half as big again as the orange tip, slower flight |
A female Mallard
flies to and fro overhead several times, on one occasion with male
following. |
  The
red squirrels in the captive breeding programme aren't
as oblivious to humans as the harvest mice and this glimpse of one looking
out of its nest hole is the only view I get when I sit by their enclosure
of 10 minutes.
I've got even less chance of seeing otters but they're
in the area thanks to a release  programme
and a quiet, overgrown area near the river has been set aside for them.
The green-veined white at the woodland edge near the
enclosure has no border on its upper wing.
 This
parasitic wasp was strikingly deep red and petrol blue
but not in the order I've shown it: it had a blue thorax and
red abdomen. It rested on the picnic table a couple of times before flying
off. It was a half and one centimetre long. We've since identified it
as a wasp that parasitises mining bees. 
Related Link
Natural Surroundings
centre for wildlife gardening and conservation, Bayfield Estate, Holt
  Richard
Bell, richard@willowisland.co.uk
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Natural
Surroundings 
