11th June

We awoke to the sound of the foghorn for the second morning in a row, and with little respite in the thick cloud it seemed unlikely that anything had been able to either arrive or leave. As such, the Woodchat Shrike was still present at Wallsend and the Wheatears continued their territorial displays with little else to add to the variety of the day. 

Early Gentians are considered an endemic to the UK, with a distribution centered on the southern counties, with Dorset being a key area. However, its distribution is called into question by those who bracket it as a subspecies of the commoner Autumn Gentian that flowers in almost identical habitats but with a flowering period from July-October as opposed to these specimens from April-July. The differences in physical appearance are somewhat subtle with the books telling us that, "the apical pedicel is greater than half the total height to pedicel apex" - us mortals will just have to take their word on it © Erin Taylor:


The Woodchat Shrike continued to delight on its fifth day in residence © Mark Eggleton (top) and Mike Trew (bottom):