Supermoon (nearly)

Today we made our first visit of the year to Conington. As expected the grassland was extremely dry and it was certainly interesting trying to record quadrats when much of the vegetation just crumbled into dust as your touched it.

In the evening I led an idyllic summer evening walk along the  South Drain and Maxey Cut - definitely the best time of the day. As we gathered near the Green Bridge we were serenaded by a Turtle Dove, while Common Terns screeched overhead and a rainbow appeared in the sky. 

A distant female Roe Deer caused some excitement, and there was plenty of other interest along the route, including the lacy flower-heads of Wild Carrot, which normally have a reddish spot in the middle of the umbel, as well as roosting damselflies and hawking dragonflies.

After a stunning sunset, we arrived at the Maxey Road just after 10 p.m. and it wasn't long before the first greenish-glow of a female Glow-worm was spotted (see extra), much to everyone's excitement. We saw five in total, and were also privileged to see a male Glow-worm which landed on one man's top, and stayed with us for some time until we decided that it ought to be left close to a glowing female.

As we arrived back at the cars, an almost full Supermoon emerged from the clouds - a fitting end to a wonderful evening.