Crowle & Thorne Moors NNR,Sunday 16th April 2023.

An organised visit with Dave and Andy to this cracking NNR today,resulted in us having a great visit as always despite the cool start.

I had organised to meet the lads at 9am,but i decided to go for dawn to see if there were any Red Deer showing first thing and to visit the southern section of the reserve.

As i arrived there were no Deer to be seen,but then all of a sudden a herd appeared from across the fields and proceeded to cross the adjacent ditch and onto the reserve giving some cracking views,albeit in poor light.

Also seen was a Barn Owl hunting the fields and a Brown Hare.

I then got the kit together and walked up to the southern part of the NNR.

A few migrants showed nicely along this part of the reserve,which included at least 12 singing male Willlow Warblers which gave lovely views and it was really great to hear that sweet song again,a true sign of spring.

Several Chiffchaff and another lovely Barn Owl showed and then i heard a snippet of Tree Pipit song.This bird was located and i spent at least 30 minutes watching as he displayed and sang from a few song posts,getting some really cracking views and a bit of phone-scoped video also.

After watching this cracker,i wandered back to the car ready to meet up with the lads.

9.00am soon arrived and we all got our gear together ready for our walk through the main part of Crowle reserve and onto Thorne.

The weather was still a bit cloudy,but breaks were appearing and we prayed the sun would break through fully,this thankfully happened by the time we reached the Thorne side of the NNR.

Now things were warming up properly and this had the desired affect on the insects,with lots of Dark-edged Bee Flies,several Eristalis pertinax and the first Green-tiger Beetles of the year being recorded.

We walked a square around Will Pitts,with the rarest sighting of the visit going to a precious singing male Willow Tit in Will Pitts wood.

As we reached the English Nature compound it was now pretty warm it has to be said and several Butterflies were recorded,with personal new for the year species for myself including Red Admiral,Brimstone,Comma and Speckled Wood.

Other species seen included a handful of Peacock and a couple of Small Torts,with a few giving photo Oppertunities as well,which was great.

It was along here we managed to find at least 11 large-red Damselfly,my first records of the year and i have written a post here @ https://LincolnshireOdes.blogspot.com .

Other insects noted included Pied Shield bug and my first Eristalis intricaria of the year.

A quick look for Adders in a favoured spot,had me finding a single male which was great to see.

After enjoying the Adder,we wandered back to the car after a pretty enjoyable visit and it was great to see some Large-red's and a few other notable insects,we just need some prolonged,settled warm weather now to bring the other species out as well.

Red Deer In The Gloom At First Light.

Dawn Over Crowle.

Green-tiger Beetle,Stunning Little Predators,Thorne Moors.

Dark-edged Bee Fly,Thorne Moors.

The Diminutive Pied Shield Bug,Will Pitts,Thorne Moors.

Male Eristalis intricaria,Will Pitts,Thorne Moors.

Will Pitts Scrape,Thorne Moors.

Peacock Butterfly,Crowle Moors.

Male Adder,Crowle Moors.