Butterflies & Birds

I caught Natural World on BBC last night and have to say that was one of the finest programmes on British Butterflies I have seen.  Some wonderful eccentric characters although I was concerned about the guy from Worksop releasing captive bred species all over the place.  This is not helpful for those recording butterflies and he did not say where he got his captive stock from.   Even so some great footage especially the chrysallis emerging from the caterpillar.

Looking out of the lounge window early on a pair of Stonechats were perched on weed stems in a field next door.

The wind dropped here today and although the temperature only reached 8 degrees I took a walk in the Cesse and Brian Gorges at Minerve.  I hoped for Wallcreeper or Alpine Accentor but could find neither.  The micro climate of the Gorges provides a good habitat for wintering Blackcaps and I certainly saw at least 20.  A magnificent Firecrest showed itself for a few minutes but the highlight was two separate male Blue Rock Thrushes.

A quick check elsewhere revealed a few Black Redstarts, Sparrowhawk and Raven.

The weather is obviously still grim in Northern Europe as my son Jeremy and his family are still stuck in Holland with no immediate news of when they will get away.