A Local Patch Day.

 A warm and sunny day today.  I had thought of a trip down to Saltfleetby but as I had to visit the cemetery chapel to vote I decided to continue with a needed patch visit.  with the weather being so warm there were large numbers of butterflies on the wing, especially whites.  Many were a challenge to identify as they either moved past too quickly or were too far away.  Small whites were present in abundance, though, as were orange tips, both male and female.  I saw a couple of green-veined whites and one large white, my first for the year.  I was pleased to spot 2 holly blues and another in the garden earlier in the day.  I came across a fox on the Horsefield which proved very wary.  It was very interested in something (prey?) out on the field but as soon as it became aware of me ran back into the bank of brambles.  Something to keep and eye on, perhaps.  Peacock, small tortoiseshells and speckled wood were also flying.  Just as I was leaving the cemetery I saw what could have been a labrador but which turned out to be a muntjac deer, the first I have seen in the cemetery.

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Linnet

Muntjac

Muntjac

Muntjac

Orange tip, female

Orange tip, female

Orange tip, female.  Showing signs of wear.

Orange tip male.

Patch Birds and Butterflies.

 As it was a while since I visited the patch, I decided on a full circuit including the cemetery and woodland burial ground, Weelsby Woods and the Dead Wood and returning via the Horsefield.I set off early afternoon after a dull morning and, although chilly with the wind still from the NE, it was an afternoon of mixed sun and cloud.  I had already spotted my first holly blue butterfly on Scartho Road while walking back from the village in the morning which augured well for butterflies.  This turned out to be the case with good numbers on the wing: speckled wood 4, small tortoiseshell 24, peacock 9, small white 1.  I was pleased to see and hear both male and female blackcap, my first for the year..

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Peacock

small tortoiseshell

Dunnock

Speckled Wood

Speckled Wood

The Full Monty on the Local Patch

It was such a beautiful day today that I decided on a full circuit of the local patch, starting in the cemetery and woodland burial ground and taking in Weelsby Woods, The Dead Wood (Carr Plantation) as well as The Horsefield (Gooseman's ); a walk of over six miles.  It was bright and clear again with a few clouds and a mild 13C.  I was absolutely delighted to find two redwings in the cemetery, my first for this year.  Making my usual way around the woodland burial ground, I was pleased to see the bullfinch pair again and to hear the familiar chiff, chiff, chaff of my first summer visitor: a chiffchaff.  A great spotted woodpecker was drumming in the woods and, although no skylark today, I was pleased to see a linnet fly up in front of me from the thick bramble hedge on the edge of The Horsefield; good to see that they, too, are return to their breeding ground.  My final bird sighting of note was a buzzard soaring over Scartho school field.  Butterflies were again forthcoming with three small tortoishells and a very tatty comma.  Spring has definitely arrived.

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Goat Willow

Chiffchaff

Wren

Buzzard

Butterfly Hunting on the Local Patch

 Finally, for the first day this year I was out in just a tee shirt.  Marvellous and a glorious day to be out; the temperature reached 20+C in the afternoon.  THings are really beginning to grow up now and the Dead Wood looks positively lush with trees coming into full leaf and a froth of cow parsley lining the paths.  I had already heard the scratchy song of whitethroat and delighted in the bubbling flute-like song of a garden warbler, which, typical of this species, refused to show itself.

There were a few more butterflies on the wing today, maily whites with a few tortoiseshells and peacocks all looking very worn now.

• Orange tip 1 female and 4 males
• Large White 5
• Small White 7
• Green-Veined White 1
• Peacock 3
• Small Tortoiseshell 3

I also came across a huge swarm of bees close to the allotments, where, presumably, there are hives.

There are more flowers about now and it was good to see birdsfoot trefoil flowering in the disturbed ground where the horses have been grazing as it is the food plant for common Blue catterpillars. Notable species included:

• Cow parsley
• Red Campion
• Speedwell
• Buttercups
• White Dead Nettle
• Red Clover
• Birdsfoot trefoil
• Pignut
• Tufted Vetch
• Herb Bennet
• Cut leaved Cranesbill

Birds seen included:

• Blackbird
• Magpie
• House Sparrow
• Swallow
• Starling
• Crow
• Wood Pigeon
• Linnet
• Chaffinch
• Blue Tit
• Great Tit
• Garden Warbler
• Robin
• Mistle Thrush
• Whitethroat
• Goldfinch

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Birdsfoot trefoil

Birdsfoot trefoil

Dandelion

Green-Veined White

Red Campion

Small White

Small White

Cow Parsley lines the Dead Wood paths

An Exciting Morning on the Patch

 At 15C it was pleasantly warm this morning with mixed sun and cloud and a southerly wind.  As I walked through the houses towards the hole in the fence by the lock-up garages, I was interested to see starlings feeding clamorous young.  There was also a crow making strange sounds and I wondered if it was a young bird begging for food.  I was full of anticipation as I knew a sedge warbler had been heard calling on the approach to the Horsefield and a garden warbler singing in one of the hedges.  In the event I connected with neither of these.  I followed my usual route around the Horsefield and Dead Wood and, at last, there was quite a bit of bord activitiy.  I found 4 singing male blackcaps on the Horsefield and two in the Dead Wood.  On the Horsefield there were 3 singing whitethroats.  In the Dead Wood I found two bluetits possibly attending nests.  At first there were few butterflies around but as the morning warmed up more appeared.  As I was about to leave the Horsefield and head for home and lunch, a bird popped up onto the bramble hedge.  At first I thought stonechat but quickly rejected this idea and then thought wheatear but when I examined to images closely it was a stunning male whinchat.  A first for the site, for me at least.  Whinchats are summer visitors, wintering in Africa.  The Horsefield would be suitable territory so hopefully it will find a mate and stay to breed rather than just moving through.

With the recent rain and warmer weather things were feeling more springlike and the air was heavy with hawthorn and rape blossom.  Interestingly cow parsley or Kexy is well in flower now.  Last year hawthorn flowered as the blackthorn was finishing and was over by the time cow parsley flowered.  This year they are flowering together.

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Blackcap

Blackcap

Female chaffinch with nesting material

Male Whinchat

Whitethroat

Whitethroat

Whitethroat

Male Blackcap

The Horsefield and Dead Wood Cirtcuit.

 It was a better day after yesterday's cold and rain; sunny with some cloud in the afternoon.  It is still cool, though at only 12C and a wind from the NW.  I followed the usual route and was pleased to see swallow and a sparrowhawk as well as a buzzard in the Dead Wood.

• Crow
• House Sparrow
• Blackbird
• Blue Tit
• Magpie
• Wood Pigeon
• Linnet
• Swallow - Horsefield
• Pheasant
• Yellowhammer
• Whitethroat
• Chiffchaff
• Blackcap
• Sparrowhawk
• Robin
• Wren
• Chaffinch
• Buzzard
• Mistle Thrush
• Peacock x1
• Small White x6
• Small Tortoiseshell x2

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Dunnock

Sparrowhawk

Yellowhammer

Searching for Migrants in the Dead Wood.

 It was warmer this morning with a wind from the west for a change.  Overcast though with a forecast for rain later.  I wanted to visit the Dead Wood to see if there were any blackcaps or garden warblers there.  Once on the Horsefield the wind had a chill in it.  The site is exposed to weather from most directions and is very open and I think that it is the recent cold that is delaying things.  For whatever reason it was very quiet again with very few birds about and no butterflies and just one bumble bee,  Some hawthorn flowers were just starting to open, however, and cowparsley was beginning to flower.

It was more sheltered in the Dead Wood and there was more bird activity.  I came across a blackcap singing and managed a sighting for confirmation.  A chiffchaff called its onomatopoeic song and a buzzard cruise by at tree top height.  As I left the woods it began to spit with rain and the walk home was very bleak and definitely raining by the time I arrived.

• Robin
• Blackbird
• Magpie
• Great Tit
• Blue Tit
• Buzzard
• Wood Pigeon
• Blackcap
• Pheasant 
• Crow
• Chaffinch
• Chiffchaff
• Hawthorn
• Skylark
• Meadow Pipit
• Linnet

• Cow Parsley
• Jack by the Hedge (Hedge Garlic)
• Red Campion
• White Dead Nettle
• Dandelion
• Shepherds Purse
• Groundsel
• Spurge

Horsfield, Dead Wood and Woodland Burial Ground.

 Another cold day with a NE wind.  Only 5C but pleasant in the sun and sheltered from the wind when I saw a couple of small tortoiseshells nectaring on dandelions by the Dead Wood. Wych Elm was displaying it's superb seeds and in the woods I found the year's first coal tit for the patch and it was good to watch the buzzard pair.  Perhaps today's highlight was the excellent view of a pair of relaxed roe deer in the woodland burial ground.

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A Walk Around the Patch

 After a grey morning on Good Friday the came out briefly and it turned pleasant despite the chilly NE breeze.  My route took me across the Horsefield, over Peaks Tunnel and along the farm tracks looking for wheatear, to no avail.  A quick circuit round the dead wood and then I headed back over the Horsefield by which time the sun had gone in again and any insects had disappeared.  The blackthorn looked stunning, however, and the blossom has exploded over the last few days.  While the sun was out, so were butterflies and I found 6 small tortoiseshells.  By this time last year I had found comma and speckled wood on the patch, but no luck today.  I heard chiffchaff and spotted a willow warbler and enjoyed watching the buzzard pair displaying overhead and then heading towards town.  Red Dead Nettle is now in flower.

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Quiet on The Patch Today.

 It was a quiet day on the patch today.  I'm not sure if this was down to the fresh, chilly wind or being out late; perhaps a bit of both.  I made my way across the Horsefield and then around to the Dead Wood and on to Weelsby Woods returning via the woodland burial ground; a round trip of 5 miles.  I was pleased with the singing robin shot and it was also good to catch a dunnock off the ground and in song.  I was surprised by the buzzard that soared past right above my head as I though at first that it was a crow so unfortunately didn't have the camera settings right.  Ah well, c'est la vie.  In the cemetery the long-tailed tits were busy in the plantation near the nest.  I saw both birds so perhaps the female is still laying.

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