Another day of avoiding public transport meant another day of walking and today I went to Deene Lake. As things turned out I might have been better just popping along to Weldon in the early afternoon but then hindsight is a marvellous thing!
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| Reed Bunting and Blue Tit. |
Nothing of note on the way out to Deene where the lake had a selection of the commoner wildfowl and a couple of Little Egrets. Kingfisher and Grey Wagtail were present along the outflow stream and I also checked the Willow Emerald egg laying scars for any signs of hatching. Water levels at the inflow were low and looked promising but there were no waders, a good sized flock of Teal were present but nothing else.
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| Deene farm pond and Willow Emerald egg laying scars. |
Deenethorpe airfield held several Lapwings and plenty of singing Skylarks but few birds of interest. With the sun having burned off the morning frost it was getting decidedly warm and a couple of male Brimstones were seen. I'd hoped to see a few in Laundimer Wood but instead saw very little of anything. Weldon however was a different story altogether and I'd hardly got to the pocket park before seeing a Small Tortoiseshell. Several more Brimstones soon followed but it was my first Comma of the year that was the highlight. It was having a dispute with a Peacock for the ownership rights to a prized basking spot and the smaller but more aggressive species won.
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| Comma and Peacock. |
Around the rest of the village I had further sightings of Small Torties and Brimstones on what was my best butterfly day of the year so far. Passing through Weldon Industrial Estate on my way home added a further Peacock and Brimstone to the bag making for a total of seventeen butterflies of four species, nice to see that Spring is finally taking hold.
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| Small Tortoiseshells. |
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