A Taste Of India?

 The weather guessers on the tele seem to think that next week is going to be something of an Indian Summer and today was certainly warm and sunny. I headed off to Willowbrook Industrial Estate this morning before continuing on to Priors Hall. Nothing too spectacular to report but some good birds, a selection of butterflies and a few odes made for an enjoyable day.

Small Tortoiseshell, Whinchat and Migrant Hawker

My walk began at the A43 pond where an adult Dabchick feeding a youngster was the highlight. At Willowbrook a couple of Red Admirals and a Small Tortoiseshell were active in the morning sunshine. More species began to appear as my stroll continued with Small Heaths being the commonest. Other butterflies in the area included two tatty looking Brown Argus, a few Small Whites and one Green-veined White. At the pond a male Emperor was patrolling and there were a few Migrant Hawkers too. Plenty of Common Darters, many of them females, were active around the site. What might have been last week's Whinchat was noted in much the same area though on this occasion it had been joined by a second bird. Once again they were too distant for good pics though I grabbed a few record shots.

Yellow-legged Gulls

After drawing a blank last week I decided to skip the gullets at Priors Hall and spent most of my time around the ponds. The quarry lake had a goodly sized group of gulls present and I managed to pick out a juvenile and adult Yellow-legged Gull in amongst them. At he ponds my first Siskins of the year flew over and I also saw a Kingfisher. My butterfly list grew a little as I added Common Blue, Speckled Woods and a Brimstone to it, in all I saw ten species. Not to be outdone my dragonfly list expanded a bit too with a Brown Hawker and plenty of Ruddy Darters being joined by a Banded Demoiselle, some Common Blues and half a dozen Willow Emeralds. For the first time I noticed the latter species on both the reed fringed pond and its smaller neighbour, after several years of checking it was about time too! With time drawing on and the day getting hotter I set off back to Weldon where a couple of pints went down very well before I caught my bus.

Common Blue, Brimstone and Willow Emerald