A post work foray over to the patch this afternoon as the weather was just too lovely to miss out on. A genuinely warm feel raised hopes that I might find some butterflies and thankfully I was not to be disappointed. Birds on the other hand were few and far between and the only migrant on view was a very vocal Chiffchaff. Apart from a Grey Wagtail and a spiralling trio of Buzzards there was not much else to shout about.
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| First Comma of the year. |
Muntjacs are fairly regular here and at least one was present on site, I flushed it (or them?) twice. Plenty of what I take to be Buff-tailed Bumblebees were around, it looked as if they may have been queens looking for nesting sites as they hugged the ground often landing and walking amongst leaf litter. At least three species of solitary bees were seen too but so far they have defied my feeble attempts to ID them. My first Bee-fly of the year was welcome, it's just a shame that I couldn't get a piccy.
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| A pair of Peacocks. |
My first butterfly was also a first for the year when I found a Comma basking in the sunshine. Soon afterwards I found a Peacock which shot off after another which had clearly intruded on the other's patch. A third species and another year first was a Small Tortoiseshell which was far more interested in battling one of the Peacocks to pose too long for photos, happily I did get a couple though. So my butterfly year list now stands at five, looking forward to Orange-tips now! With some gardening to catch up with at home I left soon afterwards, hopefully there will be more opportunities for after work jaunts in the weeks ahead.
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| Small Tortoiseshell. |
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