A Better Day on the Horsefield,

 A much better day for weather today with only a gentle westerly breeze. Sunny intervals gave a very warm 24C.

21 bird species were found and the sound of skylarks while standing in the centre of the Horsefield was amazing. They were everywhere and the air resounded with their songs. I did much better with butterflies today with 10 species giving 41 individuals including my first meadow browns, the most numerous, ringlets and small/Essex skipper. I found a cinnabar moth as well as some narrow-bordered five spot burnet moths.

Whitethroat

Small white, taken in the garden in the morning.

Small/Essex skipper.

Small/Essex skipper.

Ringlet

Ringlet

Meadow Brown

Linnet

Linnet

Cinnabar Moth

Burnet Moths

Burnet Moths

Burnet Moth

My First Large Skippers of the Year

 A walk around the cemetery and Horsefield today. Warm and overcast but a strong SE wind made conditions very difficult. I saw 20 bird species and found my first large skippers of the year.

Dog Rose

Large skipper, male and female.

Large skipper

Large skipper

Sycamore seeds

Small tortoiseshell

Cemetery Flora

 A sunny day without builders today (our house is currently clad in scaffolding as we are having building work done - loads of dust and dirt 😟.) LeavingHeather to some clearing up, I walked round for the papers and then we both walked to the cemetery to look for the white helleborines. They were in the usual place and I counted around 20 flower spikes so they continue to hang on. We also found some rosy garlic covering one grave. Presumably it had been planted. Good to see nonetheless.

Rosy garlic

White helleborine

Getting Back to the Horsefield.

 The day again dawned overcast and dull. This, and the fact that I thought that it had moved on, deterred me from going to Winter's to see the buff-breasted sandpiper. Annoyingly, I discovered later that it would have still been there. Still, as the clouds cleared, I opted for the cemetery and Horsefield.

The blackthorn has gone now and the May blossonm is beginning to fade but cow parsley is coming to its peak, continuing the froth of white in the hedgerows. The horsefield is looking superb and there are loads of birds. It was good to get common and lesser whitethroat, blackcap and garden warbler.

House sparrow

Linnet

Linnet

Fledgling robin

Speckled Wood

Another Day on the Horsefield.

 The last day of the good weather today, I think. In fact it clouded over in the afternoon and rained overnight. Although sunny and warm in the morning, there was a brisk and chill wind. I was on the Horsefield again in the hope of seeing/hearing a grasshopper warbler that had been seen by a birding friend on Saturday. To no avail, however, sadly. I also dipped out on the whitethroat. I did run into some running friends, however, and they had seen what sounded like a male blackcap but I couldn't catch up with it.

It was a beautiful walk on the Horsefield, though, and as each day goes by now it looks more spring-like. I noticed red campion in flower as well as Jack-by-the-hedge (hedge garlic) and shepherds purse. Hawthorn is well in leaf and the flowers are just beginning to emerge; we shall soon move from the frothy hedgerows of blackthorn and exchange them for hawthorn before cow parsly and hogweed take their turn. One enjoyable part of walking the same 'local patch' regularly (every day during Covid Lockdown) is that you get to see in detail the changing seasons and even micro-seasons and really get to know the patch in depth.

Again there were quite a few butterflies out: my first holly blues and green-veined whites of the year as well as speckled wood, peacock, comma and small white. On the way back through the woodland burial ground I came across three roe deer.

Chaffinch

Chaffinch

Cherry

Chiffchaff

Comma

Green-veined white

Green-veined white

Comma

Roe Deer

Speckled Wood

Butterflies on the Horsefield At Last

 The warmest day of the year so far at 23.5C. It was cloudless all day, a T-shirt and shorts day. We were up early to clean the church and then home for soup making - leek and potato - ready for Brian and Heather coming for lunch. Hunger satisfied, we set out for a walk around the 'Local Patch' birding and looking for butterflies. The ladies made it a short walk but I took Brian around the woodland burial ground  and then through the fence and over Gooseman's Drain for a lap of the Horsefield. "I hadn't expected an expedition!", quoth The Historian. It was a beautiful day with just a gentle breeze. Finally some butterflies were out and about: small white, speckled wood, peacock, orange tip and comma. The primroses are looking magnificent, it seems to be a wonderful year for them. The first bluebells are also just appearing. An excellent walk.

Comma

                                                                              Peacock

White snakeshead fritillary

Speckled Wood

Speckled Wood

Speckled Wood

Speckled Wood

Speckled Wood

A Good Morning on the Local Patch

 Another beautiful day today; 9C and feeling warm in the sun with a gentle SW breeze. I set out fairly early (for me nowadays!!!) for a walk around the cemetery, woodland burial ground and a circuit of the Horsefield (Gooseman's Field). I was pleased to see and hear jackdaw and housesparrow as I walked down the busy main road towards the cemetery. House sparrow was particularly pleasing as they are musch less common nowadays and we never get them in our garden even though these ones were only a couple of hundred yards from home.

As soon as I turned down the access road to the cemetery, the traffic noise vanished and all was calm. Once in the cemetery I followed the perimeter route around the older parts of the burial ground. Bird song was all around, mainly robins which is often the case. There must be a huge population of robins; I am rarely out of earshot of one. I also heard/saw blue and great tit, goldfinch, greenfinch, blackbird, wren, chaffinch and long-tailed tit. More primroses and daffodils appear each day whilst snowdrops are beginning to go over now; they are finished completely in the garden. As 'The Historian' would say, "Well that's another year gone!".

Halfway around the woodland burial ground I squeezed through the fence and crossed over the ditch into the Horsefield. Actually it's not so much of a squeeze now as another fence rail has been removed. Although I don't really approve of this practice, I have to say that there used to be access out of the woodland burial ground onto the common land of the Horsefield but the council, in their wisdom (or lack of) padlocked the gate. What do they expect!!!

Once across the ditch I could hear the linnets immediatley and found them all around Gooseman's They stick together in small companies and always sound as if they are in the middle of heated debate. They are also incredibly flighty and very difficult to get close to for photography. As I made my circuit of the fields I was hoping for early butterflies but non were to be found. A naturalist friend who also calls this area his local patch agrees with me that things are slow on the butterfly and moth front so far this year. A neighbour and good friend of ours (Gothic Dave), who is interested and knowledgable in all manner of subjects, helps with harvest mouse surveys and tells me that they found four nests on Gooseman't field; wonderful news. In the south west corner of the site I found four stonechats; I had been looking for them for ages.

Back in the woodland burial ground I disturbed a sparrowhawk which hurtled out onto the fields. When I arrived at the alder copse in the main cemetery I was photographing the catkins when I noticed that a newly planted tree was also producing catkins. The plant label identified it as an Alnus glutinosa, a black alder. According to google it is the same species as common alder but the young catkins look different; perhaps they will turn out to be the same. I shall enjoy watching it grow over the years.

Alder catkins

Linnets

Linnets

Linnet

Magpie

Skylark

Stonechat

Stonechat

Stonechat