karen's country calendar

 Today was the first warm sunny day since the recent hot spell so I took the opportunity to visit Monks Wood in the hope of finding the elusive black hairstreaks low enough to photograph.  It was 10 am and warming up when I parked up and made my way along the grassy path to the entrance and it was here I saw my first meadow browns of the year.    I knew where to look for the hairstreaks  having been given specific instructions from a facebook friend and when I saw a man bending down taking photographs I hurried my steps to see if he had found any... "no" he replied.  I then retraced my steps to go to another area and as I was looking about, two gentlemen and a lady arrived also looking.   We all spotted a few flying up high but as before none came down low enough,  I was told that the females normally come down first followed by the males but it might still be too early in the day or they were at the end of their flight season.  Whe...

 Having read the Adonis Blue was now on the wing at Church Hill, Therfield Heath, I decided to visit this morning to see if I could locate them. Last year I was a bit too late in the morning as temperatures had risen and this pretty turquoise butterfly was constantly in flight so this time I went a bit earlier today in the hope that I would find it settling to enable some photographs and I wasn,t disappointed.   There were several dozen males on the grassland and a couple of females together with some tiny Brown Argus butterflies which were also a first sighting this year.  They were the only two species seen today apart from one brimstone but in a few weeks time hopefully there should be some of the summer butterflies present.  (Apparently a marsh fritillary has been seen in the area in the past but not seen so far this year)  Adonis blue male  Adonis blue female A late flowering Pascal Flower amongst the feathery tops of the earlier flowe...

 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 ...

 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,

The last time I visited Church Hill at Therfield Heath was to see blue butterflies but I found that this area was also well known for its abundance of the rare Pasque flowers which flower around Easter, hence their name. So I decided this year I would visit when they were in flower. Today I had to go to Cambourne first thing which is on route though the weather was forecast to be overcast this morning, However the sun was out earlier than predicted and  after a 5 minute walk through woodland I came out onto the top of the hill and was soon able to spot the pretty purple flowers covering the grassy hillside