Friday 14 April 2017

The Moors.....Crowle & Thorne,Sunday 9th April 2017.

Today's visit,as most of my visits to this fantastic area for wildlife,was primarily to look for Odonata,but as usual,a great mix of both birds and insects were observed,this is what i saw through the day.
 I began by parking at the usual place,the relatively new car park in between the north and south sections of Crowle Moors and began my walk onto the first section of this superb NNR.
 The first pathway held the usual suspects which included singing Willow Warbler's,Chiffchaff's,Blackcap's and a couple of drumming Great-spotted Woodpecker's,a great start i thought.
 To begin with the air temperature was about 13 degrees C,with a light westerly breeze,so most of the insects i was encountering were sheltering on tree trunks to soak up the morning sun.These included several Eristalis intricarius which are superb Bumble-bee mimics and are always great to encounter.
 I eventually reached the small bailey bridge across the Linc's/York's border and crossed over,onto Thorne Moors.
 The air temp was beginning to rise now and i was eventually down to just a t- shirt,the insects were certainly responding to the warmer air with several highlights being recorded.
 This included my first records of the year of both Speckled Wood and Green-veined White and i also enjoyed some lovely views of the stunning hoverfly sp. Sericomyia lappona which i always encounter here in Spring.
 Will Pitts scrape didn't reveal very much in the way of birds,so i retraced my footsteps back onto Crowle to go and search a favoured area for Adder's
 It wasn't long before i had managed to find a single male basking in the warm sun,giving some fantastic views and also along this same stretch at least 30 Green-tiger Beetles.These diminutive little metallic beasts,really are like lightning and are always a challenge to photograph.
 Further along the pathway's another 3 Adder,included a grumpy male which decided to hiss at me,no doubt disgusted at him being disturbed from his afternoon sunbathing session and decent numbers of Butterflies included several Peacock & Brimstone and a hand full of Small Torts.
 Other sightings of note before i reached the car,were my first Common Lizards of the year and some decent totals of Warblers included 14 Chiffie,7 Blackcap and 9 Willow Warbler.
 So all in all,what a fantastic visit as alway's,with unfortunately,the best bird sightings going to species i cannot mention here and also a great day's insect watching and i'm certainly looking forward to my next visit.
Some Fantastic Habitat For Both Birds As Well As Insects.


Dark-edged Bee-Fly,Crowle Moors NNR.

Hoverfly sp.Eristalis intricaria,Crowle Moors NNR.

The Welcome Sign To Thorne Moors,Once You Cross The Bailey Bridge From Crowle Moors.

Hoverfly sp.Sericomyia lappona,Thorne Moors NNR.

Odonata Heaven,Crowle Moors NNR.


Basking Male Adder,Crowle Moors NNR.

Speckled Wood,Thorne Moors NNR.

Green-veined White,Thorne Moors NNR.

Red Deer Crossing,Crowle Moors NNR.

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