karen's country calendar

 Therfield Heath is one of my favoured butterfly spotting habitats and I usually visit three times in the summer to spot different species. Today I visited to try and see the common and adonis blues. Although it was sunny overhead there was a cool breeze and I wasnt sure how many would be about athough they are usually seen on the southern side of Church Hill which I thought would be sheltered. Having made the short walk through the woodland I arrived at the top of  Church Hill and it wasnt long before I spotted  my first Adonis Blue .  There were several flying and I managed some photos before I saw a slightly different blue butterfly which was the common blue,  I followed one specimen which landed right next to a female, which was quite handy for a photograph! Not much else about so I walked a short way up the hill near the golf course in the hope I might see some small heath butterflies which are usually abundant there but there was no butterflies about apart from  a small copper.  

 This morning was mild and calm although rather cloudy with drizzly rain about but I still met up with Paul at 630 am for our agreed warbler spotting walk around Fen Drayton Pits. Despite the weather, the birds were in full song and it wasn't too difficult to spot most of the warblers we had come to see.  This included a good view of a Cettis warbler which I had never seen close up before,  together with garden,  sedge and reed warblers,  blackcap and common and lesser whitethroats. All were seen quite easily but the dull weather and the birds not sitting still for long made photos difficult.  Nevertheless several ticks for my list.   We also heard but didnt see a cuckoo and turtle dove. white whitethroat

 A rather belated entry from outings in the Fens just after Easter which began with a local trip to Berry Fen, at Bluntisham where we saw the garganey drake we had been seeking out. Next morning we headed for Summerleys nature reserve where we found various waders and other  birds I hadnt ticked off this year including snipe and bullfinch The following day saw us driving to Welney Wetland Centre as my sister was keen to see Whooper swans and tree sparrows.   We saw both these plus some glossy ibis, shelduck, avocet, black tailed godwit, pintail, little ringed plover, oyster catcher, a couple of great white egrets and a rare glimpse of a marsh harrier having a bath at the edge of the lake. A good boost to this years rather meagre bird list so far.