Spring Is Sprung

 If Wheaters are arriving then Spring has most definitely sprung.

Spring springing with Wheatear on springs

 Birds are doing what comes naturally to them at this time of year and it will be interesting to see which of them will breed at the Mere this year. Last year was exceptional with low water levels dominating the habitat and bringing in species I haven't seen breeding here, such as Little Ringed Plover and Shelduck. Shelducks are back but will they manage to breed with the water so high? 

Shelduck on south side of the Mere

Great Crested Grebes - will they manage to breed at the Mere?

Of the resident birds, the Cetti's Warbler is always good to see as it usually skulks in the undeergrowth. This one sat out for a while and I got some more pics of this seldom-seen species.

Cetti's Warbler in Wassand

A few more locals were making themselves available for portraits too...

Male Yellowhammer

Marsh Harrier

Nearly a great photo but it saw me just as I pressed the shutter release

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Sand Martins and Swallows arrived a while ago and were joined by House Martins earlier this week. I spent half an hour trying to get flight shots, with not very good results. The best I ever managed was when we had them nesting on the house - a bit like shooting fish in a barrel but I got some decent images of them.

House Martin on the south side

House Martin

Linnet at Rolston

Insects are waking up with the longer and warmer days. Butterfly species seen include Brimstone, Comma, Peacock and Speckled Wood

Comma

Speckled Wood

Dark-edged Bee Fly in flight

Dark-edged Bee Fly feeding on Lesser Celandine

Tawny Mining Bee

Tapered Drone Fly in flight

Mammals in the local area have been limited to the usual suspects, with Roe Deer and Brown Hare being spotted more often than others.

Brown Hare

Bookend Brown Hares

We have lots of species of wild flowers in bloom and they are making the place look so much more beautiful. Along with the trees and hedgerows coming into leaf, winter is a fading memory.

Primroses in Wassand wood

Masses of Bluebells in the woods and hedges

Cuckoo Flower

Herb Robert

That's the last two weeks done and dusted so what about this morning? A walk along the Trans Pennine Trail to Great Hatfield then back via Goxhill, Weatherhill and the Mere south side was pleasant enough. The highlight was coming across six Fieldfares chacking their way through the tree tops. They'll be gone soon and we won't see them again until Autumn.

Fieldfare

Blackcaps are almost outnumbering our residents and seem to be singing from almost every available tree. Getting one clear of branches and leaves is the challenge.

Blackcap

I must have walked down the trail hundreds of times but I never noticed these until today. Left from the railway lines are what look like a couple of iron rail mounts.

Sunny but with a Cold Northerly

 This morning was bright and dry apart from a 10 second shower of light rain. My walk route was the one I do most, along Southorpe Road past Weatherhill to the hide or Wassand wood without visiting the hide, then back along the south side footpath.

 

The pair of Lapwings that have braved the ploughing (see previous post) were up and seeing off crows.

Lapwing in action

Lapwing

I did visit the hide today as I was early and therefore it was quiet with nobody about, even though we are in the Easter holiday period. 

 

The Willow Warbler and singing Blackcap found on Tuesday were still there in the wood, both singing away. I saw the Willow Warbler but no chance of a photo, but I had some luck with the Blackcap.

Singing Blackcap in Wassand wood

As above

 I saw yet another Treecreeper today! Ever since I mentioned there didn't seem to be many of them about I have been tripping over them 😂😂

 

While photographing this one I saw it had a small twig in its beak. I couldn't see what it doing until I got the pics on my PC - it looks to be using the twig as a tool to winkle out insects from a crack in the bark. I'll research this as I've not heard of Treecreepers using tools before. Nuthatches apparently use flakes of bark in some way.

Treecreeper with twig

Treecreeper putting the twig into a crack in the bark

 It didn't hang around afterwards and I didn't see the result of the twig poking. It flew to another tree, even closer to me which was great.

Same Treecreeper, different tree

At the hide there were four Marsh Harriers affording reasonable views. No real courting action that I could see yet.

Male Marsh Harrier

Cream crown Marsh Harrier, probably female

On the water a single Pochard was still hanging on, possible left over from the wintering group we've had at the Mere.

A lonely Pochard

On the track to Weatherhill before going into the fields I found my first Peacock butterfly of the year. It was very restless and was soon off and away.

Peacock butterfly taking off

Peacock butterfly

This Morning (and a few from the last two weeks)

 This morning was dry, sunny and very windy. I walked to the hide and the walk there wasn't too bad as I was sheltered from the wind by hedges and trees for most of the way, but once on the viewing gallery it was horrendous. The wind made my eyes water, and holding the bins and camera still was difficult to impossible.

 

I took a few photos of three Marsh Harriers but wasn't happy with the quality. I tried a bit of video which was a little better but the wind just drowned out any other sound 😂😂

 

Other than that it was a good morning:

Kestrel over Southorpe

Treecreeper in Wassand wood

 

Song Thrush, Southorpe Road

Song Thrush as above

Brown Hare in freshly tilled field

Brown Hare with Mere as a nice background

Chiff Chaff at Weatherhill

Chiff Chaff as above

View to the West from the hide 

View to the East from the hide

We had a few misty, moody mornings a while ago that were more like autumn mornings than spring. Cool and poor visibility but lovely to walk in. 

A few more plants are growing through now but everything seems pretty slow for some reason - is it just me that thinks things should be a bit further on than they are?

Ground Ivy in flower 

Reeds coming through in the wood

The local mammals have been scarce (apart from deer of course). A couple of Otter sightings were very distant, mid-Mere, so pics were next to useless - but that doesn't prevent me from publishing one here 😉

Otter mid-Mere

Hare sightings have been curtailed by the ploughing activity over the last 10 days or so.

Brown Hare this morning, very few seen due to ploughing

Our garden hedgehogs have been seen every night, they activate the security lights as they toddle down the path past the patio doors so we get a nice view for a short while - the trail cam gets them though.

 

Hedgehog on trail cam

While on the subject of ploughing, over the past 10 or so years I have got used to winter crops being planted as soon as the year's crops have been harvested, so come spring the crops start to grow and provide cover for early nesting ground-nesting birds like Lapwing and Skylark. Yes, the wintering farmland birds like Linnet and Yellowhammer miss out on the seeds in stubble fields, but we can't have it both ways. 

 

This year we have had a change. After the crops were harvested last year the fields were ploughed, but they were planted with what looked like rape seed. This started to grow and got quite tall before the ravages of winter set in and killed it off. Not enough though because the fields were then sprayed with weed killer (which killed the surrounding grass as well). Ploughing has since commenced and nearly finished, followed by tilling and planting, but during the ploughing the tractors have disturbed the Lapwings that have taken to nesting in the local fields.

Lapwings disturbed by ploughing (distinguishing marks obscurred as the driver is not to blame)

 I noticed this morning that a strip of land has been left unploughed, but whether this is still to be done or is for the bird's benefit remains to be seen. Three pairs were in the fields but only one pair was present this morning.

 

Update - 2 April there is still a pair of Lapwings in the partly ploughed field, landing on the un ploughed area. 🤞🤞🤞