With the prospect of a lovely sunny morning on offer,Lee and myself decided to have a walk from the village out to Kettleby Quarries and the fishing lakes.The first section of the walk along Marsh Lane towards the first of the ponds revealed nothing new in with a few Swallows and singles of Blackcap,Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff.On the first of the pits over the railway crossing,the pair of Great-crested Grebes were still busy feeding their brood of youngsters and the pair of Little Grebes were still showing no signs of settling down yet.After hearing a few snippets of Sylvia song i soon found the songster,a cracking male Whitethroat,my first of the year.He was watched giving his bouncing song flight over his chosen area of Nettle beds and gave some great views,a little beauty.Shortly afterwards,another great sighting in the form of a male Green Woodpecker watched feeding on the ground near the chicken farm and 'Yaffling' from a nearby Silver Birch.This was a most welcome sight,as i havn't seen one in the local area since the winter of 2010/11 which devastated the population of this species,hopefully they will have a recovery now.A few more hirundines over the main lake included 4 Sand Martin and a further 6 Swallows and they were watched as they hawked over the water for their flying prey and nearby a mini kettle of 5 Common Buzzard soared over the adajacent conifer plantation.On the water filled quarries a couple of pairs of Oystercatcher,2 Redshank and a mixed flock of Lesser Black-backed and Herring Gulls bathed.On the edge of the plantation a Muslin Moth caterpillar was found and on the fields up towards the hillside,2 pairs of Grey Partridge were logged and a few more insects included 4 Peacock Butterfly and 2 Small Tortoiseshell.A scattering of Wildflowers included some lovely examples of the very attractive Field Pansy and others recorded were Lesser Celandine and Coltsfoot.The top path towards St.Mary's Church saw a pair of Bullfinch and several Tawny-mining Bees being seen,but sadly no Firecrest in the churchyard today.A nice few hours out in some great weather this morning.
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| Male Starling,Barnetby-Le-Wold. |
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| Male Swallow,Barnetby-Le-Wold. |
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| Male Whitethroat,Kettleby Quarries. |
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| Blackthorn Hedge,Kettleby Quarries. |
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| Field Pansy,Kettleby Quarries. |
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