Jurassic Walk

 My friends at the BBC's weather guessing department seem to have taken their eyes off the ball with regards to today at least. Their suggestion that we were going to enjoy wall to wall sunshine fell a little short of the mark as for much of the morning the sun often proved somewhat elusive. With a keen south westerly breeze still blowing there seemed to be slight chance of much migration going on but that was not enough to keep me at home. Today's travels took me to Harringworth Lodge Lake by way of Willowbrook Industrial Estate, Brookfield Plantation, Gretton and the Jurassic Way.

Speckled Wood and Common Darter

Even before I'd left the village I'd heard some Siskins passing over, there seemed to have been a small movement of this species as I noted them at other spots during the day. Other birds seemingly on the move were Skylarks and Meadow Pipits. Brookfield was quiet, a few Coal Tits, some Goldcrests and a couple of Teal flushed from one of the ponds constituted the best birds and there was a small group of Fallow Deer too. On the outskirts of the plantation a Speckled Wood was a good find as a fresh looking example was noted basking on the ground.

Willow Emeralds and Red Admiral

The flooded quarry between the wood and Gretton added Common Darter and Willow Emerald to my day list. Moving on closer towards Gretton I observed rather a lot of Red Admirals nectaring on Ivy flowers, this seems to have been a really good Autumn for them. One of my highlights  was getting good views of a Hornet as they're normally too active to get more than a fleeting glimpse of them. On the stretch of the Jurassic Way close to Harringworth Lodge Lake Commas seemed to come into their own as four were observed, another was seen near Gretton on my return walk home.

Mandarins and Yellowhammers

At the lake itself a flock of about twenty Wigeon were present though even these attractive ducks were outshone by a similar number of Mandarin Ducks. This site is quite a reliable spot for this species though I've not seen them in these kind of numbers before. A Small White was a welcome addition to my butterfly list and was the first of four noted today. My first adult Willow Emeralds here were welcome, prior to this I'd only seen signs of their presence when I found breeding scars in the summer. Other than those Mandarins a few Redpolls were the avian highlight, there was another near the flooded quarry on my way home. On the way home another Speckled Wood was noted in Brookfield but the biggest surprise was a fresh looking male Common Blue at Willowbrook Industrial Estate. This is my latest ever and I really did not expect to see one in October. 

De haviland Chipmunk and Common Blue