WILDLIFE HIGHLIGHTS It was the insects that were dominating my wildlife sightings again in August, with plenty more dragonfly and damselfly encounters, plus some fabulous moths and butterflies. Early in the month, Bob and I had a call from one of his friends who had a Striped Hawk-moth in his moth trap that morning. So we headed over to see it, having to wait some time for the weather conditions to be just right. Needless to say, I'd never heard of it before, but as ever, I'm learning about all sorts of new species and I certainly enjoyed the opportunity to photograph this fairly large moth species. It was very impressive, especially when we were able to see the flash of pink on the hindwings. I do like to experiment with my photography, and not just take the standard back-of-wing shot, and so got down low to take a photo from the side, so I could see its eye peering at me.

WILDLIFE HIGHLIGHTS It's been another mega month for wildlife sightings for me, with most of the focus being on dragonflies and damselflies. The summer is a great month for seeing these amazing insects, that dart and flit about erratically catching other smaller insects. Though mostly found by ditches, streams, ponds and lakes, they can also be found in woodland some distance from water sources, where some mature before returning to the place where they emerged. Whilst I still have much to learn about their life cycle, I'm enjoying seeing each of our UK species and learning to identify them. But, to start off this month, it was a butterfly we went in search of. Not just any butterfly, but the Queen of Spain Fritillary - a rare migrant usually found in Northern Africa and mainland Europe - and one I've never seen before. With the warmer summer we've experienced, there have been a few sightings of this gorgeous orange butterfly in the south of England. One of our friends, a fellow butterfly enthusiast, found one in Stoke Bottom, West Sussex. Sadly, when we visited the place, we didn't see any. However, it was a fabulous day out all the same and I was very happy to see not only a mating pair of Small Whites (photo) but also a mating pair of Large Whites too.

WILDLIFE HIGHLIGHTS We were up in Yorkshire at the start of the month enjoying a week's holiday at Bempton Cliffs. Gannets and Puffins were on the cards for us up there, and lots more besides. You'll be able to read more about our trip in due course. 

WILDLIFE HIGHLIGHTS May ended up being a quiet month for me in terms of wildlife sightings, because Bob managed to put his back out sadly, which curtailed our outings together. In fact, we had been due to go to Kent on the 1st May as an early Birthday trip for him, but we had to cancel that. To be honest, it was actually nice for me having a bit of downtime with Bob, though obviously I wasn't happy about the reason! Although Bob's back is taking a while to fully recover, he's gradually getting there and doing much better now. Whilst there are only a few wildlife highlights to share with you for May, I've got to say, they were fabulous! I didn't have to travel far, as most were seen in our back garden in Seaford. It's amazing how much you can enjoy when you pay close attention to what's in your garden. Literally, within a few days of Bob putting his back out, we heard that two Spotted Sandpipers ( Actitis macularius ) had been seen along the River Ouse north of Piddinghoe, not far from Seaford. It's an exceptionally rare vagrant that you'd normally expect to see in North America, or in Central and South America where it overwinters. It would certainly draw a lot of keen birders to the area, and for that reason I didn't even consider going to look for it myself over the bank holiday weekend, as I'm not really a birder per se. But, by the Monday, I was tempted and Bob encouraged me to go, despite the likelihood it could be busy. It was very disappointing for him, as there was no way he could manage it, which was such a shame. So, having checked the latest sightings that day, I set off in the afternoon for Southease. I really hoped I would see them, but more than that, I prayed I'd have a really great close view of it on my own, which I knew was highly unlikely. As I walked along the east side of the bank south towards their last known location, I saw a man approaching from the other direction. We briefly stopped to chat. He was clearly a birder and shared the good news that he'd seen it, which was very encouraging for me. I continued on further, and then another two men approached. Once again, we stopped to chat. When I set off again, I noticed that there was no one else on my side of the bank. What luck! However, on the other side of the bank there were two small clusters of people, a little distance apart. The sun was behind them, so their side would have been better for photos, which no doubt was why they had gone to the west side. I just hoped the bit of cloud cover we had, would be to my advantage, making it easier to photograph from the east. The first group were pointing their bins or large camera lenses towards my side of the bank, so I knew where to look for the Spotted Sandpiper. I slowed down as I approached and it didn't take long for me to have my first glimpse of this attractive wader species through my bins. It's so striking. Just look at those lovely spots on its chest.

WILDLIFE HIGHLIGHTS April was an amazing month for wildlife moments for myself and Bob, so much so, it's been a struggle to narrow it down to just the encounters I've shared below...and there's still quite a few! The month was off to a great start with a new species for me - the Black-necked Grebe. One was seen for a number of days at West Rise Marsh, on the outskirts of Eastbourne. Bob had already been to see it during the week, but was happy to go again with me when I was free. Despite the very windy conditions, we had some lovely views of this stunning bird.