Dawn Till Dusk

 I had quite an early start on Saturday morning as my lift dropped me off at Deenethorpe Airfield before eight. Pallid sunshine soon gave way to cloud cover and that affected the number of insects on view but birds helped to take up some of the lack. Later in the day I spent some time in west Norfolk in the company of my brother and half a dozen Nightjars.

Essex Skipper and Marbled White

At the airfield a Barn Owl provided some early interest as if flew from a hedge near the entrance into a large tree. In the weak sunshine I encountered rather a lot of butterflies, most were still roosting but a few were up and about and doing their business. Browns always feature large in July and today was no exception with six species on the wing. Gatekeepers in particular were common and so too were Ringlets and Meadow Brown.. Lesser numbers of Small Heath and Marbled White were seen while there was just a single Speckled Wood to report. Odes were in short supply though Banded Demoiselle and Common Darter were both recorded. A Grasshopper Warbler was heard reeling near the hangar buildings and was my first at this site for several years.

Green Sandpipers and Mandarin

Just across the road from Deenethorpe village there were three Green Sandpipers feeding in the shallows at the Deene Lake inflow where my first site record of Mandarin was also found. On the main lake an Osprey was seen carrying a large fish in its talons and a Grey Wagtail was present near the dam, two Black Swans were interesting even if they're not tickable! Natural history event of the day was the mass emergence of Willow Emeralds, over twenty were eventually counted near the dam on the main lake. I was only too aware that I had a busy day ahead of me and so headed off back towards Weldon soon after.

Willow Emeralds

My brother David and I made our annual pilgrimage to Norfolk in order to see Nightjars later in the day. We endured the usual assault from the local bugs but our efforts did pay off. Up to five males were churring and we had several brief views of females as they hunted over the heath. Tawny Owls called as we made our way back to the car, a nice way to end a long but enjoyable day.

Small Heath