karen's country calendar

 I've been wanting to see this particular butterfly for some time and was delighted to find it, somewhat unexpectedly today!   After a dull morning though it had been forecast sunny, the skies brightened in the afternoon and I decided that as I had to go to Huntingdon anyway, I would drive the extra 10 minutes to Woodwalton Marsh, a 2 acre meadow known for its butterflies and where I had read that someone had seen a green hairstreak and some skippers.      I had been there less than 5 minutes, looking for anything that fluttered, when a small  butterfly landed a few feet in front of me and there was my first ever green hairstreak.  After settling long enough for a quick photo it flew off and I didnt set eyes on it anymore.  I did see a pair of brimstones and a pair of orange tips and my first damsel fly of the season but no skippers this time. green hairstreak common blue damselfly Woodwalton Marsh

 A calm bright sunny morning was the perfect weather for a walk at Fen Drayton looking for warblers. I joined Paul and Phil at 630am and we were immediately serenaded by  bird song,  Unfortunately although we had a good number of sightings, many were only brief and not really suitable for photographs especially when you are with other people.  I was however, pleased to record my first sightings this year of willow warblers, garden warblers, reed bunting, cettis warbler, swifts, bullfinches and the sound of a cuckoo.  There were also plenty of whitethroats, blackcaps, and a flock of several oyster catchers also flew overhead. Walking back to the car about 8am I was surprised to find an early riser orange tip butterfly warming itself up with spread wings although I didnt think the air was particularly warm myself!  NB Later in the day, I had a call to go over to our very local wading hot spot just outside Hilton to see a Temmincks stint!    Too far away for a photo but identifiable throu

 Following a tip off I stopped by a rape field a few miles from home where a whinchat had been seen.  I couldnt see it despite scanning the field with binoculars but then my nephew arrived with a telescope and he managed to pick it out amongst the rape as it had just become visible.    I was able to take a very zoomed in photograph but that did give me another tick for the year.  Another bonus was a pair of grey partridges at the edge of the same field which I hadnt seen this year either.

 A mile or so out of the village a 'borrow pit' has been created to collect run off water from the new A14 and this has been designed as a haven for wildlife. Easily viewed from the road though requiring binoculars there have been some interesting recent visitors so I popped along last eve so see what was there. I knew there had been some little ringed plovers seen but scanning the waters edge I soon spotted some dunlin, pied wagtails and several yellow wagtails who then flew over the top of my head to the other side of the road.  There were also mallard, black headed gulls and when I got home I saw from my photos some common tern perched on the wooden posts which I hadnt noticed! So 4 more ticks for my list! Dunlin, Little ringed plovers, pied and yellow wagtails Dunlin, little ringed plover, mallard, blackheaded gull and common tern,