Wood You Believe It?

 A much better day weatherwise than the forecasters suggested but I didn't know that until after the event. Alan Shorrock and I started our day at Harry's Park Wood where I hoped to find a Wood White or two before the predicted rain came in. We started at the Bears Lane end of the wood before making our way through the rest of the complex.

Wood Warbler

We had only just entered the wood when Alan stopped in his tracks and said that he could hear a Wood Warbler singing. I struggled to hear anything over the clamour of singing Wrens but did eventually hear Shozzer's songster. We took a deer path into the neighbouring trees from where the singing came and managed to see the warbler after a few minutes of searching. A frustrating few minutes followed as we tried to grab a record shot because it took some time before my camera would focus on the bird rather than the surrounding shrubbery. Satisfied we left the bird to its own devices and moved on but not before we released the news to the wider birding community, Wood Warblers are pretty rare in Northants. With the unexpected birding excitement behind us we explored the wider wood in search of insects.

Large White and Broad-bodied Chasers.

To a soundtrack of calling Cuckoos we set off along the many rides and it wasn't long before I saw my first Large White of the year. Sharing the same area were several Broad-bodied Chasers while nearby was a Four-spotted Chaser, Small numbers of other butterflies were on show of which the commonest was Speckled Wood. After an unproductive spell our luck improved quite a bit when I spotted a Wood White flitting along one of the rides. After a short pursuit the butterfly obliged us by nectaring on Dewberry and other flowers which allowed us to get some record shots. Cloud cover was beginning to increase by now and we started to walk back towards the car, a small group of birders were by now looking for our warbler which was still singing with vigour in the same area.

Wood White

Our day's spotting concluded at Eyebrook where a relatively short session began at the island where a Little Ringed Plover and a fly over Osprey were the highlights. Best birds at the reservoir were a pair of Garganey at the sharp end, we enjoyed distant though pretty decent views of them before we left. I had a dinner appointment with my wife and bird spotting is not an adequate reason for being late!

Osprey and Garganeys