A few “early” things were spotted at Ben Rhydding Gravel Pits today. Not very far from the notice-board I spotted a broken Blackbird egg. They can start breeding in March, so this was one of the early ones. Another early spot was the male Orange Tip butterfly. Early April is more likely to be the time to see them start flying. Admittedly this one only flew a few inches up to the twig. It stayed in the same place during my 3 tours of the reserve. I am not surprised to stayed put, though the sun felt warm when the wind dropped it was actually quite cold. I should have had a thicker layer to keep me warm.
During my tours I could hear several Chiffchaff, as well as Robins, Blue Tits, Great Tits and others. The Chiffchaffs seemed to keep themselves just out of range so on my last tour, after watching a male Pheasant scurry away, I decided to stand still for a while. Soon one of the Chiffchaffs came into range of my camera. After a minute or so I started walking again, pleased with the expectation of half-way decent photos, and spotted a couple of Treecreepers zig-zagging up nearby trees.
As usual tap on an image to see it in the gallery with EXIV data.
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