Fine weather in mid April - migrant arrivals and plenty of butterflies.

Our summer visitor birds are now arriving in numbers. Chiffchaffs are now back:

At Weston Common (near Lasham) there were record numbers of singing Tree Pipits - with 13 singing males found there on 18 April. (This compares to 7 last year). Some of these are in the area of clearfell where the Southern Beech has been cleared. Others are in the young deciduous plantation. The fence which borders this has always been a regular place to see Green Woodpeckers. It is now clear that they are actually feeding on grubs within the fence posts. As can be seen in this photo, the posts are now suffering...

The warm weather has brought out many butterflies. Holly Blues seem to be in particularly high numbers. This Brimstone at Weston Common picked up a hitchhiker.

There are now good numbers of female Brimstones - the initial emergence comprised mainly males. Also on the wing now are Speckled Wood, Small White
Plenty of hoverflies too: I believe this is Eupiodes latifasciatus.

Weston Common is a reliable place for Fallow Deer - note the distinctive white horseshoe on the hind parts. Fallow Deer tend to see in larger groups while the commoner Roe Deer is normally in groups of 1-3. I have never seen a Fallow Deer as far south as Alton - yet there are plenty to the north of Shalden. The story goes that these are the descendants of the Hackwood House (Basingstoke) herd which escaped by walking over the top of the wall in the huge snows of 1962. 

This oak near Dummer had a large number of galls:

Ladies Smock (or Cuckoo Flower) near Alton: the insects seem to be flies of some sort.

Both the River Wey and the Caker Stream hold interesting wildlife as they flow through Alton's Industrial Estates. Marsh Marigold:

Grey Wagtail along the Wey in Alton:

 A number of this brood of Mallard ducklings have white breasts - which matches the mother. I wonder whether this a trait of the female line. A similar brood was one of the first broods to hatch at Kings Pond last year. These were along the Caker Stream at Waterbrook Industrial Estate and I suspect are related.

Another brood of Mallards along the Caker Stream:

Finally - a bit further afield. Migration is not just about birds. I saw this bat - perhaps a pipistrelle species - arrive in off the sea at Sandy Point, Hayling Island on a misty/drizzly morning on Tuesday. It immediately landed on the sea-defence rocks and crawled down. Interestingly another bat sp. was seen arriving off the sea at Portland on 19 April.

Alton in mid April

A foggy start on 17 April on a circular walk put paid to hopes of finding grounded passage migrant birds. 
This blackbird was on the roof of the Naturetrek offices in Chawton. Later when the fog had cleared the staff found a female Redstart there. 

The sun magically appeared at 9am. This is what a blackbird is meant to look like - this male clearly had young in the nest being particularly tame and focused on the collection of food. 

At Kings Pond the two young herons on the lower nest are now well grown...

The upper nest still has a sitting/standing adult present. There seems to be at least one much smaller juvenile present - you can just about see a yellow eye and beak to the right of the adult's beak. There is another apparent ball of fluff to the left which might be another chick.

By Whitehouse Farm along the Selborne Road there are some False Oxlips - the hybrid between Primrose and Cowslips. 

Cowslips are spreading nicely here in one of the sheep fields.

The insect in more detail...

Yellow Wagtails are begginning to arrive. They are famous for feeding among the feet of animals - whether cattle in the summer months or zebra and wildebeeste in the winter. This Pied Wagtail was doing the same trick - catching flies which the horses where disturbing.