Urban Butterflies

The Comma butterfly is one of our winter hibernators and can usually be seen towards the end of March or early April as spring temperatures begin to rise but with this unseasonally warm weather it has encouraged a few to leave there dormant state a little early this year and I've been lucky enough to see Comma's over the last two weekends, with this stunning little beauty with its ragged wings photographed in a friends garden on Sunday afternoon.

The butterfly gets its name from the only small white marking on the underside of its wing, which resembles a comma!

A little drummer boy!

I managed to get out and spend a couple hours at Wanstead Park on Saturday morning in hope of finding early summer migrants and wasn't disappointed with a least 6 singing Chiffchaff and 3 Blackcap but the highlight of the morning were the resident Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers! These are usually difficult birds to see but were very obliging this morning with single birds seen on three occasions and one particular confiding individual giving excellent views from a well known drumming post.  Now is probably the best time of year to see these little birds as the trees are not yet in full leaf and the bare branches make it easier to locate a bird once you have picked up the sound of the drumming which plays an important part of claiming a territory and attracting a mate.  The weather continued to be dry, bright and sunny which I was hoping would encourage a movement of raptors thermalling as the temperature increased throughout the morning but after a couple of hours looking towards the skies my only success was a single Buzzard heading in a westerly direction.

A report from JL (The Wanstead Birder) of an unusual leucistic duck resembling a female Mandarin/Wood duck was worth a view and I made my way over to the shoulder of mutton lake before leaving the park and was not disappointed to find the bird still there and showing well, after observing the bird for 10 to 15 minutes it didn't strike me as being of the tame variety & was acting like a genuine wild bird either keeping to the centre of the lake or close to the reeds and overhanging trees away from any passers by and looking rather uneasy all the time I was there - It will be interesting to see if any conclusions on this bird are made in the future!

Spring Sunshine

The weather for the weekend looks good with a warm south - south easterly breeze and clear conditions over most of the UK  -  I think I could be on for a raptor or two thermalling over the garden.  A little too early for a Hobby but a very good chance of a Buzzard and an outside chance of a Red Kite and we can all dream of an Osprey!

I've been looking for a window of opportunity to set up a blog for some time, having been inspired by some very good local bloggers, who with the aid of some excellent camera equipment & fine written word, have made my enjoyment of reading and viewing their photographs a real pleasure which in turn has inspired me to pick up the bins and camera again after many years in the wilderness.

Don't expect too much and you won't be disappointed.