Thursday 9th. May 2013

A quick catch up on the last couple of days short outings , more to get some air that hope of finding much . Yesterday afternoon , had a look around a windswept Spring Park Pond , finding a few Smooth Newts , lots of tadpoles , never know if they were spawned here or people brought them from

their garden ponds , even though there is a notice not to , for fear of spreading viruses . Only other thing found on the pond itself was a single newly emerged , male Large Red Damselfly , and as it

struggled to stay on it's leaf , it was probably thinking 'have I done the right thing' . The small meadow beyond was also unsheltered from the wind , and all I found was a Small White , it too

struggling to stay attached to it's perch . As I walked back to the car , a rustle in the vegetation turned

out to be a Brown Rat that watched me as I passed by .
A bit brighter this morning , but it didn't last long . I decided it wasn't worth going far , so headed back to High Elms , to look for a Sparrowhawk nest that fellow enthusiast had found recently . Whilst looking and when the sun did appear , I moved on to Burnt Gorse finding very few butterflies willing to fly in the conditions . As with last visit , the first find was the same or another moth . This time the moth was only too pleased to get some warmth from my finger . I'm glad to find the species again , as

not for the first time , I wrongly identified it as Garden Carpet , whereas , thanks to Spock , it can be correctly identified as Green Carpet . A new species for the year , Dingy Skipper was seen , but as I waited for it to climb into the open on the ground vegetation , a gust took the butterfly into the distance down the slope , and that was the last I saw of it . I did though manage to find a newly

emerged Grizzled Skipper , making the second one for the year . In the coppiced area , three Orange Tips were recorded , 2M&1F , and at last I managed to find a couple of eggs too , laid right in the

flower head of the Garlic Mustard . In the same area , a male Green-veined White was found

refuelling on the nectar of Ground Ivy , before struggling on against that wind . I'm reasonably sure I

found the Sparrowhawk nest , but am awaiting confirmation from Keith , but no sign of either bird . With the could increasing by the minute , I made my way back to the car . I stopped at the rookery on

the way home , finding it very busy , adults searching for food for the youngsters in the nests . And finally , I haven't seen any sign of the juvenile Common Buzzard since last weekend , so he might have moved on .