15/05/2019 Knepp Estate with the East Grinstead RSPB Local Group Turtle Dove, Nightingales and a White Stork

Wednesday 15 May 2019
Knepp Estate, Sussex
East Grinstead RSPB Local Group

A cracking trip to the Knepp Estate this morning.

• We only saw one Turtle Dove but it stayed in place in the canopy of a leafless tree for about 25 minutes before flying off, allowing all 14 members to get good scope views.
• Bird of the day for me was the magnificent White Stork which we saw flying around as we headed back to Shipley from the south side of the estate.
• It's always nice to be in the presence of Nightingales and we came across several.  They were not giving us their full repertoire of song but enough to ID them and appreciate what we did hear.

We were lucky to have Malcolm and Julie on board and they provided us with valuable insight into our dragonfly and butterfly sightings.

It was a good day for early season butterflies and dragonflies.

• We had good views of female Broad-bodied Chasers, a very fresh male Beautiful Demoiselle, Azure Blues and a Large Red Damselfly. 

• Butterflies seen were Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown, Holly Blue, Orange Tip, Red Admiral and a Peacock.

Just over 40 bird species seen but a truly memorable outing with friends in the group.