Moth and butterfly chasing, exceedingly busy Nuthatches, sunbathing ducks, lazy birdwatching and getting up at ridiculous o’clock to celebrate International Dawn Chorus Day are amongst the week’s highlights in Unforgettabubble. Here is the week 7th – 13th May, 2017….in pictures.
The week begins at 4.30am waiting for the birds to strike up for International Dawn Chorus Day. Cold, windy and just too early for a Sunday morning!
The first birds begin singing in the dark…talk about early birds!! The imagined blue-sky, forest video doesn’t come off and this is what I get!! Turn the sound up, you can just hear the start-up chorus! I’ll try harder next year.
Later in the week, the sun eventually comes out so a trip to Ellerburn Bank Nature Reserve to look for butterflies and day-flying moths is a must.
The gorse smells beautiful, of coconut and cut-grass, and with the sun shining, it almost feels tropical…I did say ‘almost’!!
A multitude of Dingy Skippers are on the wing…
…as are the carpet moths like this Green Carpet disturbed from the grass,
…and this Common Carpet caught by net and potted up to help identification.
A few micro moths are flitting around and…
a Brown Silver-line buries itself into a small hole.
Meanwhile, on nearby Pexton Banks, the Lily of the Valley is in the first stages of flowering and can just be spotted through the bracken
On the way back from shopping, a visit to my nearby village pond catches ducks stretching in the sun.
…and whilst sitting on a picnic bench watching the ducks, I notice a pair of Nuthatches, appearing completely oblivious to me and other pond-goers, as they fly back and forth to the their nest
It’s hard to drag myself away however the smell of garlic from the surrounding Ramsons makes me feel hungry so I reluctantly go home.
And finally, quite liking the lazy birdwatching at the pond the day before, I decide to continue and sit in a hammock by the Visitor Centre near Bubble HQ in Dalby Forest to watch the birds from there. Luckily, it’s so early that nobody sees my efforts getting out of the said hammock! At least, I hope that’s the case!
