Wakerley Wander

 A changeable sort of day which saw Alan and I paying a visit to Wakerley Wood where a search for Crossbills was the main mission. I'm off for a couple of days before I return to work on Saturday and wanted to spend at least a couple of days looking at wildlife. Overall the day just about delivered what we wanted from it though it was far from plain sailing.

Male and female Silver-washed Fritllaries

Several other birders were already on site by the time that we arrived though the rewards for their efforts were scant, one had heard a Crossbill but that was it as far as results were concerned. Anyone hoping to see Larch branches bowing under the sheer weight of these chunky finches was destined for disappointment and it required several hours and a lot of effort before we managed to connect with one. A definite high point of our woodland walk was that it stayed dry and there were even a few sunny spells which brought some butterflies out.

White Admiral and Meadow Brown

Hemp Agrimony flowers proved irresistible to Silver-washed Fritillaries and we saw over ten on our travels with many looking to be in good condition. Slightly less pristine were two White Admirals which looked in better nick than the one that I saw last Sunday but were still showing signs of having had a good life. Shozzer found my year first Purple Hairstreak though it did not pose for photographs and instead flitted around the upper branches of an Oak. Both browns and whites were well represented and so too were Large Skippers with singles of Red Admiral and at least two Commas also on view. Odes were in short supply and my only sighting that I could put a name to was an Emperor. It was whilst walking back towards the car park that we heard and then saw a Crossbill which flew across the main ride before appearing to settle in a nearby Larch. Although we didn't manage to pick it out again we did hear it several more times before it moved on. Once Alan had polished off his lunch we emulated the Crossbill and moved on ourselves.

Willow Emeralds

Our next and final wildlife stop was in the Deene and Deenethorpe area where a look for White-legged Damselflies did not produce any sightings. In Deene churchyard some white Buddleia flowers had attracted several butterflies of which a Small Tortoiseshell was the highlight. Between here and the dam we managed to find at least four Willow Emeralds of which two looked freshly emerged and better yet they posed long enough for pics. Birds on the lake included four Black Swans and two Egyptian Geese but there was little else other than Grey Wagtail and Kingfisher to report. Our return past the church yielded sightings of at least two Migrant Hawkers and these provided the last highlight of day.

Migrant Hawker and RAF training trio.