Wanderings from the Front Door- 23rd-25th June 2020

 I took the Summer Lane path from Wirksworth over to Carsington Water once again on a hot summer's day, making my way across quiet fields with cattle, to the Hopton end of the big reservoir. The reedbed was quiet, the Warblers perhaps kept down by the hot, close weather. Abundant Meadow Brown butterflies were on the wing. A distant raptor hawked over the woods-it could have been a Hobby, or a Dragonfly-hunting Kestrel, ever a source of confusion, not seen well enough to add the species to my 'lockdown list.' A Little Egret flew by on slow, lazy wings, bright white in the summer sun. Garden Warbler and Chiffchaff sang near Sheepwash, and so many Meadow Browns fluttered among the meadow flowers, the pink and purple orchids.  The roar of jet engines broke the tranquility as a pair of Eurofighter Typhoon jets flew by, low over the hills.

Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly, taken in 2019, somewhere. 

When I reached the visitors' centre, I found it unexpectedly busy, a striking change from a few weeks ago. A shirtless man walked the foreshore with a can of Stella, and families played beside the shallows. One wonders how many wader nests failed mid season on account of this sudden disturbance, having had its first months to themselves.

Still camera-less, photos are taken from previous adventures. Here is Carsington Water in Summer, in more normal times. 

I made my way back the way I came, hoping to reconnect with the possible 'Hobby' but I failed, though, by the reedbed screen, as the day cooled a Reed Bunting sang. I walked back, as the hay cut was underway in the fields which just yesterday seemed full of spring grass and Dandelions. A large Aeshna spp. dragonfly was hawking over the aftermath, perhaps feeding on the myriad small insects, their world falling apart to the tractor. Of course, the meadow would bloom again, as it has perhaps for hundreds of years, but their seemed a curious finality to it, the beginning of Summer's slow decline. But the air was still warm, and the average thermal maximum  still a month away. 

Birds Seen:Canada Goose+fl, Greylag Goose+fl, Mute Swan, Mallard +fl, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Grey Heron, Little Egret, Cormorant, Buzzard, Moorhen, Coot, Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Redshank, Black Headed Gull, Herring Gull, Stock Dove, Woodpigeon, Swift, Magpie +fl, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Blue Tit, Great Tit +fl, Swallow, House Martin, Long Tailed Tit, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Garden Warbler, Whitethroat, Blackbird, Mistle Thrush, Robin, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Pied Wagtail, Bullfinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Reed Bunting.

A Bullfinch at Attenborough in 2018.

Butterflies, Hopton End: Large White (1) Meadow Brown (5) Small Tortoiseshell (3) Red Admiral (2) 

Lane Ends-Wildlife Centre: Small White (1) Large Skipper (2) Small Tortoiseshell (2) Red Admiral (1) Meadow Brown (35)

Wildlife Centre-Visitors' Centre: Speckled Wood (1) Large Skipper (2) Meadow Brown (26) 

A Brimstone was near Lane Ends on the return trip.

A Brimstone in the West Country in 2018

A Breif Stroll to Bolehill, 24th June 2020

On what had been a difficult day for personal reasons, I took a stroll to clear my mind, on a hot summer's afternoon. I walked to Bolehill, across grassland now infested with Meadow Browns. A Sparrowhawk floated by on the warm updrafts. More sadly, a Buzzard trailed unknown debris, perhaps some plastic detritus caught around a talon. 

I played a brief but happy game of stick with someone else's dog, and continued across Bolehill village toward Little Bolehill, where the path drops back towards Wirksworth beside a private house, and the bird life here was characteristically interesting. Mistle Thrush fledgelings argued with a family of Blackbirds, a noisy exchange of staccato notes, and wrens and warblers were busy among the foliage. 

As I returned to Wirksworth I encountered a group of young people enjoying a small barbecue next to the stream, and thought it pleasant to see normality returning, people getting back out into the sunshine. Swallows were darting about, feeding on the aerial plankton, the small flies of summer. 

Back home, taking a few moments in the garden, Swifts wheeled and whistled gleefully overhead. 

I noticed, then, my brussel sprouts. The Large White butterfly caterpillars, who I had immediately welcomed to them, of course, had all gone. Dispersed, to pupate. I shall miss them. 

Birds Seen: Pheasant, Sparrowhawk, buzzard, Black Headed Gull, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Woodpigeon, Magpie, Jackdaw, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Swallow, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Mistle Thrush +fl, Blackbird +fl, Robin, Dunnock,. Chaffinch, Goldfinch. 

Butterflies: Small Tortoiseshell, Meadow Brown (many!) 

Mammal: Grey Squirrel.

A Meadow Brown, Gratton Dale, 2018

Carsington Water Again 25th June 2020. 

Knowing that Carsington Water, the patch where I get most of my year ticks nowadays, was fully open, drew me back time and again. On the 25th June, another fiercely hot, close, still day, I made my down Summer Lane. Meadow Browns were again very abundant, and there were a few Small Tortoiseshells of the second brood about. The farmer was baling the hay he cut two days before. Higher up, Bullocks grazed contentedly in the sunshine. 

I took the quieter side of the water, and in the woods fringing the reservoir, bands of Tits picked their way through the trees. Yellow flushed Coal Tit fledgelings were among them, and there was a juvenile Goldcrest in the pines. There were relatively few birds on the water. The island near Millfields hosted plenty of Black Headed Gull youngsters, some of which had now taken to the water.  A Ringlet butterfly was my first of the year at the site, an indicator of the advancing season. 

A Ringlet Butterfly, Sometime in the past, for illustrative purposes. Man they are not easy to make look exciting. 

There were still plenty of people about, many of them on the foreshore, and the Millfields car park was a hive of activity, barbecues and party balloons, and it felt somewhat incongruous on my gentle, birdy stroll, so I retraced my steps a little and made my return journey via Kirk Ireton, buying a take-away pint from the Barley Mow to drink on the way home. I walked up Half Moon Lane, where butterflies were still abundant as the hours moved on apace.

Butterflies. Small Tortoiseshells, abounding, at South Walney in Cumbria in 2015

There were plenty of Hirundines on the wing as I passed the small hilltop hamlet on the way, and House Martins nested under the eaves. I returned to Wirksworth in the evening, crossing several fields of cattle with their calves. A Sparrowhawk hunted after passerines in the bushes. 

When I returned home, swifts were once again whistling overhead. 

Birds Seen

Canada Goose +fl, Barnacle Goose, Greylag Goose +fl, Mute Swan, Mallard +fl, Tufted Duck, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe+ fl, Grey Heron, Little Egret, Cormorant, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Coot +fl, Oystercatcher, Black Headed Gull +NY, fl, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Swift, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Raven, Magpie, Jay, Coal Tit +fl, Blue Tit, Swallow, House Martin, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff +fl, Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Whitethroat, Goldcrest +fl, Wren, Nuthatch, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Robin, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Linnet, Goldfinch. 

Butterflies: Summer Lane Area: Common Blue (1) Small White (1) Large Skipper (2) Small Tortoiseshell (2) Meadow Brown (70) 

NE of Reservoir: Large White (1) Red Admiral (1) Small Tortoiseshell (4) Meadow Brown (4) 

West Side of Reservoir: Speckled Wood (2) Meadow Brown (84) Ringlet (1) Small White (1) Large White (1) Red Admiral (1) Small Tortoiseshell (6) 

Millfields area: Large Skipper (2) Speckled Wood (4) Red Admiral (1) Small Tortoiseshell (1) Meadow Brown (21) 

Carsington to Kirk Ireton (late) Speckled Wood (1) Red Admiral (1) Small Tortoiseshell (5) Meadow Brown (37)

Speckled Wood, for illustrative purposes. 

Wanderings in the Strangest Summer. Tittesworth Reservoir, 21st June 2020

 I accepted Natty's kind offer of a lift up to Severn-Trent's Staffordshire reservoir at Tittesworth, in the shadow of the Roaches, and was surprised to find the site heaving with people and their dogs, running everywhere including the foreshore, putting up the waders, including a small crowd of Oystercatchers, surprised and confused at their previously quiet habitat suddenly robbed from them. 
The woods were relatively quiet, and I escaped the throng as I walked away from the Visitor Centre. The carefully managed Wild Flower meadows were alive with meadow browns and Small Tortoiseshells, flying among the ox-eye daisies and the Orchids, and they were a beautiful sight in the sunshine.

Small Tortoiseshell, photographed in 2015. Diving into the archive to illustrate these as I was still waiting for my new camera. 

Most of the avian interest was to be found on the Western side of the Reservoir, where a patchwork landscape of copses and scrub, fringed by fenced off farmland, dominates. A disheveled and unwell-looking Willow Tit adult fed a noisy fledgling. According to the Collins, Willow Tit fledgelings produce loud begging calls, while the near-indistinguishable Marsh Tit is near silent in its youth.  The Willow Tit is a fast declining bird and it was sad to see the adult in such an unfortunate state, showing severe feather loss and the suggestion of avian pox around its face. I hope it survived long enough to see the youngster to independence and the disease was not transmitted between the two of them, as this charming little species needs all the breeding success it can get. 

A beautiful Little Ringed Plover scuttled back and forth beside the water's edge, and Common Terns fished gracefully. The banks were alive with midsummer flowers, foxgloves and Ragged Robin. 
I reconnected with Natalie and we paused a while on the Bridge, and watched a Common Sandpiper probing about in the mud, possibly a returning migrant. A distinctive shape, like an obese torpedo on hummingbird wings, a Kingfisher whirred by, as the Terns continued fishing in the open water.

A Kingfisher photographed in Suffolk in January 2020. 

Birds Seen: Canada Goose, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Great Crested Grebe, Grey Heron, Cormorant, Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Little Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper, Black Headed Gull, Common Tern, Swift, Kingfisher, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Coal Tit + Fl, Willow Tit +Fl, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Swallow, Long Tailed Tit, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Goldcrest, Wren, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Robin, House Sparrow, Pied Wagtail, Chaffinch, Goldfinch. 

Butterflies: Meadow Brown, Small Tortoiseshell, Green Veined White, Red Admiral.