Deene Sandpipers

 A grey morning with the occasional drizzly interlude saw me taking the bus over to Upper Benefield from where I walked home via Deenethorpe, Deene and Weldon. It was certainly not my most productive outing of late but nor was it completely devoid of interesting stuff either. 

Tree Sparrow and Yellowhammer.

On the outskirts of Upper Benefield the Tree Sparrows were busy around their chosen trees although trying to photograph any was more than a little difficult. Eventually one did sit still long enough though poor light made my pics no more than of the record variety. Walking along the lane towards Deenethorpe I saw a Brown Hare bounding away across one of the fields while the songs of Yellowhammers, Skylarks and Whitethroats rang out. I heard at least one Lesser Whitethroat too and managed to get a brief view of two.

Green Sandpiper and Banded Demoiselle.

At Deene lake inflow I found at least three of the six Green Sandpipers that have been reported here recently. There were not that many other birds here apart from a few Lapwings while on the main lake the pair of Black Swans shared the water with a flotilla of yucky duckies. Surprisingly given the weather I managed to find a couple of Banded Demoiselles and a Meadow Brown though it helped that I flushed them from their hiding places. No birds of note at Deenethorpe Airfield though I did add both Small Heath and Common Blue Damselfly to my day list.

Meadow Brown and Common Blue.

There appeared to be a chance of the sun coming out as I neared Harry's Park Wood and that tempted me to take a stroll. sadly the sun did not emerge and as a result I only saw a few cloud toleraant Ringlets and a Speckled Wood. Whilst walking along Bears Lane a Yellow Wagtail flew over calling providing a final highlight. No sooner had I reached Weldon from where I was catching my return bus when the sun came out, not my day for timing it would appear!

Ringlet and Starlings.