Summer Returns For a Few Hours

Waking up to sunny weather gave me a bit of a headache this morning - what should I do? Should I go in search of insects, go owling or revisit my sites in west Leicestershire. Little Owls won the early battle, as I returned to the site where I saw the juvenile last night. I didn't have to wait too long for mum to put in an appearance at the nest hole.

Morning

Ready For Take Off

After the first showing, the owls didn't want to play, so I left the site and met up with Adey Baker at Croft. We had a fruitful walk around the hill and quarry. The highlights were 14 Bee Orchids, a pair of Grey Partridge, a Kingfisher and two Grass Snakes that were out sunning themselves.

After that I went over to the Ashby Canal at Dadlington in search of White-legged Damselflies. I did manage to see an adult and two immatures, but compared to other years, at a similar time, this was very disappointing.

Teneral White-legged Damselfly, Ashby Canal

My last port of call was Brascote Pits where there was good numbers of damselflies, mainly Azures and a few Red-eyed Damselflies. 

Red-eyed Damselfly, Brascote Pits

I also saw my first Dragonflies of the year at Brascote Pits - a couple of Four-spotted Chasers, but I had no look photographing them today. However, I've included a photo of one from a couple of years ago.

Four-spotted Chaser

Patch Work

Croft Hill

Fosse Meadows

There are only a few wildlife sites in my corner of Leicestershire that are particularly noteworthy, but with a bit of effort there are rewards if your prepared to put in the leg work. The most well known sites are Brascote Pits, Burbage Common, Croft Hill, Fosse Meadows and Frolesworth Manor Lake. I keep threatening to compile a list for the area, but it's difficult to define the actual extent of it. I will attempt to do it this year as the list is pretty impressive for an area with only a few small bodies of water.

I'll also add some more pictures so you can get an idea about the sites, but for now enjoy a few bird photos.

Oystercatcher, Brascote Pits

Common Buzzard, Brascote Pits

Avocet, Brascote Pits, May 2011