Summer or Winter at the Welsh Harp?

Sunday June 7th dawned a bright but cool day, at least the weather was better than yesterday when it felt like winter and we had a thunderstorm. It was still cool enough to warrant a fleece when I left home early to do the monthly wildfowl count (WeBS) at the Welsh Harp. I paused to photograph a bench and wishing well structure that has recently appeared on Neasden Rec. They seem to have been built using recovered scrap items and look really good.

The count doesn't normally take long in June and offers very few surprises as there's usually just a few breeding water birds to count. Today wasn't one of those days as I found a female Goldeneye asleep in the middle of the reservoir; this is a scarce visitor here and typically occurs in winter so it is a mystery why this bird was here today. 

Goldeneye

Once the count had been done (the only other thing of note was a brood of Egyptian Geese in North Marsh), I had a look around the flowering brambles bushes for some hoverflies and located a few I'd not seen so far this year. 

Volucella pellucens - Pellucid Fly

Parhelophilus versicolor 

Lurking in a patch of stinging nettles I found over 100 caterpillars that will soon be ready to pupate and turn into Peacock butterflies. If I manage to get stung by these nettles I always remind myself that without them we wouldn't have these stunning butterflies. There weren't too many other butterflies around today because it was a bit cool, just a handful of Meadow Browns and single Small Tortoiseshell and Holly Blue.

Peacock butterfly caterpillars

In the grassy field just north of Cool Oak Lane bridge I found my first Burnet Companion of the year, a day-flying moth. 

Burnet Companion

On the dump, a Kestrel was hovering over the path in front of me and a Common Whitethroat was singing in the Cow Parsley which was now turning to seed. I finished my route and returned home.

Kestrel

Common Whitethroat