Aye Aye Skipper

 A cool wind continues to blow and did so throughout my walk today. I wanted to see if any Large Red Damselflies had emerged yet and so spent most of my time at Priors Hall. Sadly no damsel sightings to report though I did a little better on the butterfly front noting two new species for the year.

Ringed Plover record shot and Rabbit.

My day began with a check of local industrial sites and I was able to confirm that the Ringed Plovers are still about. Today they had chosen to forsake their normal spot for a neighbouring field where they showed distantly. Leaving the plovers behind I moved on to Priors Hall where an initial look at the quarry produced Sand Martins and little else. With the early blue skies now giving way to clouds my prospects of seeing much looked unlikely but persistence paid off eventually. During a brief sunny spell a Grizzled Skipper stopped for a short time but didn't hang around. Soon after my first Speckled Wood of the year settled briefly on a path before flitting away. It turned out to be the first of about ten suggesting that there had been a good emergence recently. There were not too many other butterflies to be seen apart from a few Peacocks and a Green-veined White. Best bird around the ponds was a Grasshopper Warbler which gave a few short bursts of song but stayed quiet for most of the time. Other wildlife highlights were a Common Lizard and a Brown Hare. While walking back towards Weldon another quick peek at the quarry produced distant views of a Common Sandpiper.

Grizzled Skipper, Speckled Wood and Green-veined White

By now the sunnier spells were becoming a bit longer in duration so I called into Weldon which turned out to be equally free of damsels and most other things too for that matter. A Comma was seen in the pocket park and an Orange-tip was noted near the A43 pond while the pond itself held the usual birds though Tufted Duck numbers had increased and there was a partially leucistic drake Gadwall.

Tufted Duck and Gadwalls