Sunday, 14 May 2023

14th May 2023

Pick of the birds today was my first Garden Warbler of the year…

Luckily it was singing within a few yards of this (completely tail-less) Blackcap...

so a really good chance to compare songs (which I always struggle to re-learn each spring).  

On the river yesterday there were three very young Goosander ducklings (this is only the second time there has been evidence of breeding in the parish) and three Willow Warblers…

The latter used to be the commonest warbler in the village, after Whitethroat, but numbers have really fallen in the last few years.

Along Potter Lane there were at least two pairs of Yellow Wagtails…

But only a single singing Corn Bunting…

They seem to be scarce this year with only three counted singing between the river and the lane against a typical recent total of seven or eight pairs. In contrast Chris says the numbers around Thrintoft seem to be noticeably higher than usual.   

Yesterday’s sun, after a week of cold and rain, got the butterflies on the wing. Alongside the railway I had eight Speckled Woods….

Plus Green-veined White, Red Admirals, Small Tortoiseshell and 20+ Orangetips including this one which looks like a female but has orange on the underwing and bleeding through to the upperwing…

I assume this is just a faded male?

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