

The bird of the month was a female hen harrier seen on the 5th and 17th quartering fields. The 17th also produced my second five raptor haul of the year which included; hen harrier, buzzard, red kite, kestrel and sparrowhawk.
The frozen ground towards the end of the month reduced available habitat for snipe to feed, resulting in several sightings along unfrozen wet ditches. A grey wagtail on the 30th was only the second sighting for the year. As usual red kite, buzzard and stonechat were regularly recorded.
2008 may have been a poor breeding year with fewer birds about but it produced my highest yearly species total for birds - 91. The highlight, undoubtedly, was the Cattle Egret, and other notable species include Green Sandpiper, Bewick's Swan and Common Tern.

Despite the poor weather throughout the year for insects, 586 species of moths were recorded. The outstanding moth species recorded was a migrant, the Convolvulus Hawk-moth recorded on two occasions. One species I had been keen to record did turn up, namely the White-spotted Pinion a species restricted to elm woods, its stronghold nationally being in Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire.



Into fungi? Check out these pages for more photos!
Various types of fungi and lichen are shown on the April page
There are more fungi pictures on the October page
More pictures of slime mould can be found on the September page