My backshift week has once again come around with what seems like indecent haste and my lieu day on this occasion happened to be today. Not for the first time I joined forces with Alan Shorrock and the pair of us headed over to Wicksteed Park for another crack at the Norfolk Hawkers.
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| Gatekeeper and Norfolk Hawker |
In sunny and warm conditions we made our way towards the fishing lake stopping to admire my first Gatekeepers of the year on the way. It was still pretty early when we got there and initially things proved to be something of a struggle. Damselflies became active first with Blue-taileds in particular showing well. The first dragons on offer were Emperors and a year first Brown Hawker though they were joined minutes later by a Norfolk Hawker which made a fleeting visit. We had several more all too brief views of this newly arrived species before Shozzer found a perched one that gave us the chance to take a few pics before we moved on. Butterflies on the wing included Red Admirals, Commas and Small Skipper as well as the usual whites and browns. Best of the bunch however was my first Purple Hairstreak of the year fluttering around oaks between the lake and the railway track.
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| Juv Green Wood and Coot family |
Birds were a little thin on the ground though Kingfisher and Cetti's Warbler were heard while broods of young Great Crested Grebes, Coots and Green Woodpeckers were the best of the bunch. Having left the fishing lake behind we then turned our attentions to the main lake where two Common Terns were the pick of the birds. Ode wise several Small Red-eyed Damselflies were my first of the year and I had good views of an ovipositing Empress. Satisfied by our results so far we opted to pay the parking and head for the Old Ketrin Road on the edge of Corby.
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| Small Skipper and volucella hoverfly |
The new site delivered my first White-lettered Hairstreaks of the year, at least two were present. I didn't manage to grab any pics of them but I did get a few of a Purple Hairstreak that Shozzer found. There were plenty of new brood Holly Blues about but in truth we spent too much time staring up at the White-letterds to look for other stuff and we left before we could find anything else, a pint in the Samuel Lloyd was a pleasant way of ending our session.
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| Small Red-eyed Damselfly and Purple Hairstreak |
