Whitethroats Arrive

 Yet another warm and sunny day which saw me taking the X4 bus to Upper Benefield from where I walked back via Deene, Deenethorpe and Weldon. In all honesty it was not one of my finest excursions though I saw just about  enough to justify my efforts.

Tree Sparrow and Chaffinch

I was pleased to find Tree Sparrows still present in the vicinity of Upper Benefield as several of their nesting trees had become victims of winter storms. More were seen near the buildings at Burnt Coppice suggesting that the population remains healthy. At least six Whitethroats were singing along the Deenethorpe road suggesting a mass arrival over the last few days, I was later to see a further two near Deene Lake. I think this must be one of the earliest dates for Whitethroat that I can recall, I'd guess their arrival has no doubt been helped by the favourable winds. Another interesting bird in this area was a Raven which attracted the attention of a pair of crows which escorted it away from their territory. After this promising start things went downhill somewhat, Deene Lake was quiet other than three pairs of Shelduck while Deenethorpe hosted several singing Swallows. The airfield was hosting an event for people flying radio controlled jets which meant that few birds were seen.

Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell.

Butterflies were seen in reasonable numbers though for the first couple of hours it was Peacocks that stole the show as they accounted for all the sightings. Gradually a few other species began to appear with Orange-tips in particular featuring strongly. Many similarly sized whites are on the wing at the moment and they're hard to identify as they zip past though I saw a Green-veined and two Small Whites which paused just long enough to I.D. Rather more straight forward where the Brimstones and Small Tortoiseshells that were also noted. Not too much else to report other than a total of five Brown Hares seen at several points on my walk.

Brown Hare