Sunday 14 June

A walk around Swaddywell Pit in the late afternoon turned up a purring turtle dove. Sadly they seem to be scarcer again this year - I have heard individuals at Bainton and Old Maxey Pits, but they are hard to find.

Orchids are showing well now on the top field, with a good number of southern marsh already in full bloom. Pyramidal orchids are also coming through now, but it doesn't seem to have been a good year for bee orchid - whilst they are around, they seem to be in much lower numbers than usual. Another flower, the common cudweed, an inconspicuous and not very common flower is however doing well - a large covering in their usual spot down by the quarry face.

Later on I went out around Helpston and had the fortune to find two barn owls just as darkness fell at 10.12pm, one sitting by the entrance to its nest barn, before disappearing inside, joined swiftly by its mate, which must have been sitting nearby.

There were also two ghost swift moths displaying eerily along the ditches. If you haven't seen a ghost swift, then put it on your list of things in the local natural world that you need to see. They are large and very white and they dance and hover in a bizarre, hap-hazard way over the grasses as darkness approaches, presumably seeking a mate. This is quite unusual in moths, as normally it is the male which is attracted to the female, in this case, he attracts her to him!