The Humberhead Peatlands,14th & 21st March 2020.

A couple of visits to this outstanding area for flora and fauna on two days recently,provided me with some fantastic sightings,the following is an account of what i saw.

Saturday 14th

An organised meet with Dave today,saw us parking at Crowle and then walking onto Thorne Moors,with the best sightings from Crowle including 2 lovely Willow Tit,47 Fieldfare and 2 cracking Ravens.The latter were watched on and over fields near the Bailey Bridge which crosses over the Warping Drain and were a nice surprise for sure.
 Thorne provided some fantastic sightings as well,with the rarest from a personal point of view being a 2nd calendar year drake Red-breasted Merganser on Will Pitts with 11 Goosander.Other sightings which were equally memorable cannot be mentioned here due to their sensitive breeding status,but also included 2 male Stonechat.
 Signs of spring included several Buff-tailed Bumble Bees and also my first spring flowers in the form of a few Coltsfoot.

Saturday 21st

An organised meet up with Dave and Andy today,mainly to see if we could find Andy any Adders,resulted in a fairly decent days wildlife watching with at least 8 male Adders observed which included a couple of really confiding individuals allowing some great video and photos to be taken.
 Bird wise,the best sighting went to a cracking male Firecrest which was found near Boston Park in the afternoon,which showed incredibly well,but getting photos or video in the windy conditions was another thing.
 Other avian highlights consisted of at least 8 Chiffchaff around the whole site,a pair of Stonechat,2 Egyptian Geese and a single Whooper Swan at Boston Park.
 I also managed to see my first butterfly species of the year today,a lovely Comma.

 

Thorne Moors.

Coltsfoot,Thorne Moors.

Egyptian Geese,Hatfield Moor.

Male Adder,Hatfield Moor.

Chiffchaff,Hatfield Moor.

Firecrest Record Shot,Hatfield Moor.