I found a sunny spot on Saturday and settled down to do my Big Butterfly Count.

• Common Blue - 1
• Gatekeeper - 4
• Red Admiral - 2
• Speckled Wood - 1
• Large White - 1

Notice how having your camera on the wrong setting makes even a butterfly sitting still on a leaf in the sunshine out of focus...



The Red Admiral is mid-flight, hence even more blurred around the edges!

Doing the Big Butterfly Count is really easy. All you need is a sunny spot and 15 minutes to sit and watch. More details are on the Big Butterfly Count website.

Our latest, greatest app has arrived! A comprehensive field guide to the dragonflies and damselflies of Britain and Ireland. Covers in detail the identification of all 46 species that have been recorded in the region. It aims to help the dragonfly-watcher — beginner or expert — to identify any species they encounter.

The BTO has just launched a new survey, and this one doesn't involve being outdoors, or indeed watching any birds. Before autumn migration really hots up, the BTO, RSPB, BirdWatch Ireland and Scottish Ornithologists' Club would like to take the opportunity to find out more about how you watch and record birds, and how you use BirdTrack (if at all).

Your feedback will help the BirdTrack partners to prioritise future developments so please spend five minutes taking the bird recording and BirdTrack questionnaire.

There be dragons in the BirdGuides office this week. We've been busily putting the finishing touches to our new Dragonflies & Damselflies of Britain & Ireland app, based on the wonderful book by Dave Smallshire & Andy Swash.

With a window in the weather yesterday, we dashed out of the office to try a bit of app field testing... and to catch up with a species that was new for all of us in the process.

Completely red abdomen, dark thorax, red eyes, reddish legs and reddish pterostigma... It must be a Small Red Damselfly! And thankfully our app agrees.


They were surprisingly common and showed well, until the sun went behind a cloud at which point they would instantly melt away into the vegetation.



Also on site were Keeled Skimmer:


...Emerald Damselfly:


...and Black Darter:


Other stuff on site included this tiny Palmate Newt:


And several species of insectivorous plant. Butterwort sp.:


...Round-leaved Sundew:


...and Narrow-leaved Sundew


Huge thanks to Betty at QinetiQ, without whom our visit wouldn't have been possible.

And for more news on Dragonflies app, keep watching this space... or follow us on Twitter @BirdGuides for the very latest.

When the phone rings in our office, it could literally be anyone on the other end; in between the obvious BirdGuides calls we get anything from celebrities and authors to institutions on the other side of the world wanting to buy a kilogram of osmium. I exaggerate with the kilogram part but the rest is true. You'd think we'd be prepared for anything but this afternoon I was surprised to answer a call from a lovely lady at the BBC Pronunciation Unit asking how to pronounce Prinia. Now what you have to realise here is that I'm from Liverpool - admittedly not thick Scouse (like), but enough that I don't speak proper - and BirdGuides' MD Fiona Barclay hails from north of the border. So asking either of us to pronounce Prinia was likely not a wise thing for the BBC to be doing! Max, the only speaker of Queen's English in the office who could have helped, was out... so I had to field the call as best I could. Prinn-eeya I said, confidently. The BBC Pronunciations Unit lady thanked me for my time and we hung up, leaving me stressing over if I'd got the pronunciation right or not! Fiona agreed with prinn-eeya, and seemingly so does Geoff Sample, but then maybe it's a northern thing. I guess we'll see - if you hear Prinia being mispronounced on the BBC in the near future you'll know who to blame!

It was with great interest that we read an email from New Zealand resident Detlef Davies. Detlef wrote:


A real mammoth twitch! To put the distance into perspective, a trip from Scilly to Shetland would only just notch up 1,000 miles on the clock. And can you imagine the scenes if a second record of such a magnificent beast turned up in the UK? I'm quite sure there'd be more than 30 birders willing to travel to see it!




Both images - Detlef Davies

As Murray mania grips the nation, it seems that even birds of prey aren’t immune to the draw of Wimbledon. RSPB staff in Scotland were stunned to find a tennis ball in one Red Kite nest at the beginning of this year’s world famous tournament.


Image: Ewan Weston

Red Kites are well-known for lining their nest with items taken from humans. In recent years, experts have found many weird and wonderful things including underwear, tea towels, lottery tickets, socks and an England flag.

If you want to see a Red Kite yourself, why not visit one of the RSPB's Date with Nature viewing sites? They are all around the UK and also include viewing sites for other birds of prey like Peregrine Falcons and Ospreys. For more information visit www.rspb.org.uk/datewithnature.

Live images of a Red Kite nest in Aberdeen can be viewed the RSPB website.