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

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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Dead Wood, Weelsby, Horsefield Walk

 A longer walk again today.  Very pleasant but very quiet.  I did photograph the house sparrows again though.  Again they were very reluctant to emerge from cover.

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A Beautiful but Quiet Day on the Patch.

 It was an absolutely beautiful day today: only a gently breeze and warm sun.  I had hoped to capture some images of the hares that I have been seeing on the winter wheat near the Dead Wood but today there was no sign of them.  In fact it was very quiet on the wildlife front and I saw very little.  I was pleased, however with some house sparrow pictures that I took.  I normally don't get the opportunity to photograph these birds as we have none in the garden and they don't come to my winter feeding station.  I do walk past a couple of flocks of them in the hedges between houses and fields on my daily walks.  They are awkward to photograph, though, as they tend to congregate noisily deep in the undergrowth and rarely show themselves; they obviously not had the lessons in posing, unlike the female reed bunting which sat up nicely on a bramble for me later.

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On the Local Patch with the Macro Gear for the First Time this Year

A longer walk again today taking in the Woodland Burial Ground first and then across Peaks Parkway to Weelsby Woods, the Dead W and then back over Peaks Tunnel and the Horsefield.  An what a beautiful sprink-like day with plenty of warm sun.  These early days of spring are amazing.  The land is drying out quickly now and it is becomming easier to negotiate the Dead Wood, although the middle is still flooded.  There are lots of signs of spring now with primroses well out and also, in the cemetery the alder catkins are in their prime.  I saw my first butterfly of the year and the white violets are coming into flower in the Dead Wood.  I took my 55-200mm lens with extension tubes in the hope of some macro work and used them for the included images.

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Patch birding again.

 Yet another grey cold and misty day so another, longer, walk around the patch without the camera.  I was pleased to have good views of a goldcrest in the Dead Wood, however, and the greater spotted woodpecker was drumming again and I saw two more together in Weelsby.  A pair I wonder?

A Long Muddy Walk Around the Deadwood and the Horsefield

 Having missed a walk yesterday, I decided on a longer one today to keep up the 3 mile a day average.  I needed the long walk as I am feeling frustrated, disenchanted and resentful, not just because of Lockdown itself but of the lack of clarity, lack of enforcement and lack of compliance, including from our Prime Minister.  Over the last weekend there were over 500 cases of guideline infringement in the Lake District with people driving from Liverpool and from as far away as Northamptonshire!!

Rant over!!

I set out as usual from the house and accessed the edgeland as normal through the wardrobe and into Narnia.  I made my way past the school and then, rather than turning for the Horsefield, continued along the farm track to Low Farm.  Here I got into conversation with the lady who lives in the bungalow and she was keen to tell me about the deer and foxes who frequent the fields as well as the local barn owls.  I must spend more dawn and dusk time looking for them on the Horsefield.

Crossing the very busy Peaks Parkway (essential journeys??) I continued round to the site of the old Peaks Tunnel Farm and on into the Deadwood.  I was delighted while sweeping the plough with binoculars to spot a couple of hares hunkered down pretending to be clods of earth.  It was muddy everywhere with the land sodden, but it was particularly bad in the wood.  As I passed into Weelsby Woods I was pleased to find a very attractively lit clump of velvet shank fungi.  From here I made a large circuit of Weelsby Woods before heading back to the Horsefield over Peaks Tunnel.

A circuit of the Horsefield and a final stretch of mud brought me to decision time: a plodge along the field edge to the back of the wardrobe or returning via the church and Scartho Road.  I had had enough of mud so opted for the better surface.  Nice to see the first snowdrops in flower in the churchyard.

Birds

• Starling
• Blackbird
• House Sparrow
• Wood Pigeon
• Robin
• Chaffinch
• Crow
• Feral Pigeon
• Dunnock
• Pheasant
• Yellowhammer (flock)
• Reed bunting
• Collared Dove
• Great Tit
• Jay
• Common Gull
• Black Headed Gull
• Magpie
• Blue Tit
• Brown Hare

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