After watching Waxwings in the sunshine outside my lecture room at Uni yesterday, I was hoping the nice weather may stay around for the weekend. On waking up this morning it clearly hadn't, and instead I was greeted with a rather dreary and overcast sky, a cold breeze, and a light drizzle of rain - the sun did peep out slightly, but still masked by a veil of cloud. Despite this though, it's still a joy to be outside on my local patch.
Hazel at the top of Jenner's Bank
3 Goldcrest were noted, 2 Treecreeper were heard, 5 Nuthatch were found, 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker and 1 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was drumming along the River Len Valley - first of the year - 30+ Siskin were feeding in Alders either side of Madginford Bridge (the bridge closest to Willington Street), a few Redpoll were also seen, a Pheasant called, and several Redwing were seen.
Coot
The first Great Crested Grebe to return to the Lake after the snow was seen, a Cormorant was perched on the island next to the Weir bridge, there were 31 Pochard and 6 Tufted Duck on the Lake, a Grey Wagtail was heard flying over, and a Grey Heron was seen along the River Len.
Purple Hairstreak egg nestled just beneath an Oak bud...
...and a slightly closer view.
Also of note were several Purpe Hairstreak eggs located on an Oak tree I have never seen any adults on before, the catkins on most of the Hazels have swollen, and 2 foxes were heard calling.
5 comments:
Nice find - bet it took you ages to find those eggs?!
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Good to see there's another Lesser spot in the county!!
Those eggs are a great find Simon, lets hope they hatch :-)
Hi Adam! I should really say that those eggs were incredibly hard to find and that I took a painstakingly long time to find them, however, they only took a few minutes to locate and they are relatively easy to spot once you've got your eye in.
Try to imagine you're a butterfly and attempt to guess where you would lay an egg. They lay them at the base of the terminal buds of an Oak tree branch on the southern side of the canopy.
Hi Simon, great news about the Lesser Spotted.
The Butterfly egg photos are excellent, and have opened up my eyes to a whole new world, I just wouldnt have thought about looking for Butterfly eggs at all.
Lovely coot photo.
Greg
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