Not Much to Report

Rather a long walk today, not as long as the one last week but then nowhere near as interesting either. I walked out through Weldon and on through Deenethorpe and Deene before returning via Priors Hall. Early sunshine gave way to clouds putting paid to any hope of seeing interesting insects with the continuing north easterly wind bringing quite a chill to the day.

Sunny scenes

I stopped at Ironpit Wood in Corby where I enjoyed the display of Bluebells, this is the best local wood that I know of to see them. The verge and the very edge of the wood appear to have been disturbed by construction machinery but thankfully the rest appears to be surviving well. Walking along Kettering Road towards Weldon produced at least four Willow Warblers with  more seen or heard later in the day at Priors Hall.

Bluebells and male Chaffinch.

Very little of note between Weldon and Deenethorpe with a Brown Hare near Harry's Park Wood being the sole highlight. Deenethorpe had a Swallow while the nearby inflow at Deene Lake had about fifty Teal and a Shelduck but little else. A further four Shelduck were seen on the main lake where a pair of Black Swans were also seen. I can't say with absolute certainty but it looks as if the swans may nest this year which would be interesting even if they are escapes. A group of eleven Cormorants were on the spit near the dam and were of the British race and possibly migrants.

Cormorants and friend and a Red Kite.

Winter was still in the air at Priors Hall with eight Redwings on site while several Teal and three Snipe were seen around the ponds. A drake Mandarin did a flypast over this area, I saw it or another with its mate in flight over the quarry lake. Little else to report, a Muntjac was seen around the ponds while a double figure count of Sand Martins were flying around the quarry lake. With the weather promised to improve over the next week it's to be hoped that the wildlife sightings will improve a little too - hopefully!

Black Swan and nosy calves.