A full day on the cards today after picking Trace up and taking her home to get some sleep and i decided to go and visit one of the other parts of the superb and extensive Humberhead Peatlands at Hatfield.I used Boston park as a base and tried to cover as much of the reserve as was possible.After packing the food and drink etc. into the rucksack i started by looking around Boston Park itself,some nice views were had of about 30 Sand Martin as they hawked for insects over the lake and a Little Owl was seen roosting in a stack of bales giving some nice views.I made my way along to Badger Corner Lake,where the first highlight of the day was found,a female Large-red Damselfly.This was the first of 7 seen during my visit today and are my earliest personal records of this cracking Damsel.I continued around the reserve seeing and hearing several Willow Warbler,Blackcap and Chiffchaff and a distant Common Buzzard was watched as it displayed over an adjacent wood.I carried on seeing very few 'New' migrants until i came across two Wheatear on the side of Packards South and a single Little-ringed Plover passed overhead.The best sighting of the day was encountered along here,1 male and 3 female Adders.They gave stunning views with a little patience and the male was in pristine condition after sloughing his old skin,but for me female Adders are the stars,cracking animals and are by far my favourite native animal.The weather wasn't too bad today and in between the periods of sun,some good numbers of Butterflies were recorded with 7 species being seen.These included 2 'Firsts' for the year in the form of 1 male Orange Tip and a single Large White,others logged included 6 Green-veined White,1 Brimstone,4 Speckled Wood,5 Small Tort and a whopping count of 42 Peacock.The latter is the largest count i have had of the species in spring.After eating my lunch at the stunning Ten Acre Lake i continued my journey looking around Red Bridge Pits where the best sighting went to another first for the year and another reptile,a male Grass Snake,found basking in vegetation on the edge of one of the ponds.And as i tried to get closer he shot off at lightning speed,they are extremely quick animals and i was so lucky to get some pictures a few years back.A quick wander around the Dragon Pits revealed nothing out of the ordinary and i returned back to the car slightly knacked to say the least,but what a great place to visit.Another great day enjoyed in this fine land of ours.
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| Hoverfly sp. Eristalis intricarius. |
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| Badger Corner Lake. |
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| Blue Tit collecting nest material. |
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| Hoverfly sp. Syrphus torvus. |
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| Melanistic Rabbit,Prison Lakes. |
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| Willow Warbler,Ten Acre Lake. |
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| Female Adder. |
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| Female Adder. |
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| Female Large-red Damselfly of the form 'Typica',Ten Acre Lake. |
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| Common Storksbill,Dragon Pits. |
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| Little Owl,Boston Park. |
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