The weather was again warm and settled so I decided to undertake a walk from Lower Poolands car park to look for more Green Hairstreak butterflies. It proved worthwhile as I found 2 more Green Hairstreaks at the Broom scrub in front of the electricity pylon on the east side of the former plantation. This takes the total up to 11 over the past 2 days at 6 separate locations. I will share a map of the sightings once their flight season is over.
Also in this area I was treated to the sight of 2 juvenile Long-tailed Tits being fed by their parents.
Juvenile Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus)
Green Hairstreak (Callophrys rubi)
It was a productive walk on the butterfly front as I also observed my first Small Heath and Small Copper of the year for the site. 3 Orange Tip and 2 Holly Blue were also noted.
Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas)
Moth-wise I recorded 2 ♂ Emperor patrolling, 2 Red Twin-spot Carpet and a single Mother Shipton. The latter is called Mother Shipton as the pattern on the wing is said to look like the face of the 16th centaury hag of Yorkshire folklore, Old Mother Shipton.
Red Twin-spot Carpet (Xanthorhoe spadicearia)
Mother Shipton (Euclidia mi)
It was a good day on the bird front too as I observed my first Garden Warbler of the year flitting about and singing at the edge of the Oak wood near Poolands car park. Another highlight was seeing/hearing 4 male Yellowhammers perched up singing at different locations across the Common. This is really heartening as Yellowhammers are declining nationally and over the last 10 years and I personally have noticed a big drop in their numbers at traditional arable sites I visit.
Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella)
Good read as always. Very informative too without droning on mate keep it up.
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