April Local Visits - 2022

To give my reader(s?) a break from repetition of my garden birds (and other wildlife), I am offering an account of a few local places I visited during April. All my outings, for various reasons, were at the back end of the month, and partly inspired by wanting to check if any damselflies or dragonflies had emerged - if they had, I didn't see them!

Thursday, 21st April              Saltersford Valley Country Park

A morning hospital visit in Burton on Trent had me wanting to get out and stretch my legs in the afternoon, so I headed for Saltersford Valley CP. 

Soon after entering the site, I found my first Speckled Wood butterfly of the year.

Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) - Saltersford Valley CP

I saw several more of this species during the visit, and it was good to see them doing well.

Saltersford Valley CP is centred on flashes caused by the subsidence of disused coal mines. One of the two lakes is fed by what, at first glance, appears to be a spring. However, it seems that it might be water being pushed up from flooded mines with some sort of polution, as the water emitted is stained a rusty orange colour and this permeates the major portion of the lake. It does not, however, appear to be detrimental to wildlife, as birds and insects seem to thrive here. My next image shows the colour of the water.

Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) - Saltersford Valley CP

Also on the lake were a pair of Coot with two young in tow, but I did not get any sensible photos.

The only other thing of interest photographed was a hoverfly species that I do not recall seeing before. You can tell it's a male because the eyes meet in the middle - in the female, they are well separated. 

hoverfly (Myathreopa florea) (male) - Saltersford Valley CP

Saturday, 23rd April                       Saltersford Valley Country Park ; Pastures Lane

I returned to Saltersford Valley CP on this day, but this time, rather than park in the Saltersford Valley CP car park, I parked in the Oakthorpe Colliery car park and took a public footpath to Saltersford Valley CP. This time there was rather more to see.

At the start of the boardwalk was this flower, which I believe to be Cuckooflower.

Cuckooflower (Cardamine pratensis) - Saltersford Valley CP

Along the boardwalk, I found a Canada Goose closely watching me as it lay on a nest incubating eggs.

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) - Saltersford Valley CP

Towards the far end of the site, my eye was taken by what I at first thought was a wasp species, but now believe to  be Nomada lathburiana - a cuckoo bee.

cuckoo bee (Nomada lathburiana) - Saltersford Valley CP

I saw a few more butterfly species, which was encouraging.

Peacock (Aglais io) - Saltersford Valley CP

Green-veined White (Pieris napi) (male) - Saltersford Valley CP

Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) - Saltersford Valley CP

I was pleased to see that the Coots still had their two young, one of which is shown in the second image below.

Coot (Fulica atra) - Saltersford Valley CP

I took a different return route to my car, passing along Pastures Lane, which is a roughly-surfaced road to Pastures Farm. At one point, a reasonably sized lake is about 150 metres to the north west of the lane. The head of a breeding-plumaged male Cormorant was just visible over the brow of the interevening pasture. I do like Cormorants in this statae of plumage!

Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) (male - breeding plumage) from Pastures Lane

Further along the lane, I photographed a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly. By its tattiness, I guess this is one that overwintered somewhere.

Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) - Pastures Lane

Monday, 25th April                 Heather Lake

Heather Lake is another of my favourite dragonfly spots, but is rarely interesting for birds, although I did once have the pleasure of encountering a Spotted Flycatcher here.

An Orange-tip butterfly, with the orange tips just detectable through the wings showing it to be a male, sat patiently while I photographed it.

Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) (male) - Heather Lake

At one point, where there is a narrow path between hedge and water, there were some noises on the path ahead of me. I waited and eventually was approached by a lady with push-chair and child, who informed me that there was a Moorhen nest with eggs in the water just beside the path. I continued gingerly and spotted the nest which appeared to have at least six eggs in it. The Moorhen was way out in the lake, presumably having been frightened off the nest by woman and noisy child.

Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) (nest + eggs) - Heather Lake

Further round the lake, a furry creature ran across the path just a metre or so in front of me and plopped into the lake. My immediate thought was Water Vole, but when I looked at the only shot I managed to grab, I came to the conclusion that it was a juvenile Brown Rat! Please tell me if I am wrong.

Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus) (juvenile) - Heather Lake

Having passed once round the lake and seen little, I decided to cover totally new ground for me by continuing on the footpath beyond the lake, including taking a side branch too. Little of great interest was seen, although it was good to explore, but I did get a shot of a Small Totroiseshell in better condition.

Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) -beyond Heather Lake

I came back to the lake, keeping clear of the side which had the Moorhen nest, and found a Moorhen close to me, which beat a hasty retreat.

Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) - Heather Lake

Before reaching my car, I spotted a patch of Cowslips a couple of which had bright orange-red flowers, rather than the creamy yellow that is normal for this species. You can just see the colour of the yellow ones in the top right corner.

Cowslip - near Heather Lake

Thursday, 28th April              Hicks Lodge

On this day, I parked at Oakthorpe Colliery car park and walked into Hicks Lodge. Beside the path in, there was a Greylag Goose quite close but on the other side of a hedge. I managed to poke my lens between the branches and get a few shots.

Greylag Goose (Anser anser) - Hicks Lodge

Further on, a Greylag flew overhead.

Greylag Goose (Anser anser) - Hicks Lodge

There were Cowslips in flower here too, so I took some shots of ones in the usual colour!

Cowslip (Primula veris) - Hicks Lodge

As I started down the west side of the main lake, a Moorhen trundled across the grass in front of me.

Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) - Hicks Lodge

I noticed a small wader fly up from the edge of the lake and head off into the far distance, so I proceeded with stealthy caution. I then briefly spotted a Common Sandpiper of which I only managed to get a shot of its backside before it disappeared. I did, however, manage a shot of the Pied Wagtail that was with it.

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii) (male) - Hicks Lodge

I carried on past the end of the lake, and then turned left to gain a path that heads to a smaller lake which lies to the north west of the main lake.

The lake only seemed to hold a Coot and a Little Grebe. I spent nearly half an hour hiding behind a bush, hoping the Little Grebe would come closer, but it didn't.

Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) - Hicks Lodge

Coot (Fulica atra) -Hicks Lodge

Back at the main lake, I managed to focus on a Reed Bunting that was lurking in the back of a bush.

 

Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) (female) - Hicks Lodge

I first saw and photographed a Bar-headed Goose at Hicks Lodge in 2018. I have seen and photographed (presumably) the same bird every year since then except in 2021. I have no doubt that this bird is an escape from somewhere, although it is not ringed. I do, nevertheless, find it an attractive bird, and was delighted to see it on this day.

Bar-headed Goose (Anser indicus) - Hicks Lodge

After a session photographing the goose, I was delighted to manage a shot of a fly-past Common Sandpiper.

 

Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) - Hicks Lodge

As I started heading back to my car, a group of Canada Geese flew over.

 

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) - Hicks Lodge

Back at the car at Oakthorpe Colliery, while I sorted myself out, a female Common Pheasant hove into view. I couldn't help but think that this poor creature was here because someone bred it so that it could be shot at by some cretin with a gun! Such a beautiful bird!

 

Common Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) (female) - Oakthorpe Colliery

Friday, 29th April                  Saltersford Valley CP

 

A Quick visit to Saltersford Valley CP was not very productive, although I did have the good fortune to bump into an old friend, Mick Smith - it was great to have a chat. I did take some shots of a relatively common hoverfly. This one was a female - eyes well-separated.

 

hoverfly (Eristalis pertinax) (female) - Saltersford Valley CP

My greatest excitement was at finding a pair of mating Dark-edged Bee-fly. I am rather fond of this species, but have never seen them mating before. At first, I thought it was a rather long insect flying around. Fortunately they settled and I managed a few photos.

 

Dark-edged Bee-fly (Bombylius major) (male+female) - Saltersford Valley CP

Again, I found a Reed Bunting in a bush, but this one was a bit more visible.

 

Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) (male) -Saltersford Valley CP

Saturday, 30th April               Heather Lake

 

I had time for a brief late-morning return to Heather Lake on this day.  Sadly, I found the remains of the Moorhen nest abandoned, with no eggs visible. I suspect that someone had allowed their dog to enter the water here (a common practice at this location).

I only photographed a Moorhen and, on my way back to the car, a distant Wren.

Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) - Heather Lake

Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) - Heather Lake

That brings me to  the end of the month of April. May has got off to a slightly slower start, but my next blog post will almost certainly cover my April garden observations, and will appear in about a week's time from the date of this blog post. In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and Nature.

 

Thank you for dropping by - - - Richard