It started well but then really deteriorated.
At Homefield Wood I saw the Military Orchids but they were not quite out yet. Interesting birds included Raven, Red Kite initially seen on the ground and a couple of Red-legged Partridges.
At Aston Clinton Ragpits not a lot apart from Orange Tip and Brimstone butterflies.
Finally, after much wandering around in the torrential rain (which wasn't supposed to happen) I reached Hartslock and had very damp views of the Lady, Monkey and hybrid orchids.
At last a warmer day although the sunshine was hard to come by, but I did get a few of the things I came to search for. The only negative thing was as I was coming home something fell off the car (it turned out to be a heat shield from the exhaust) - luckily it missed the car behind me. The sites visited were:
I managed to find a smashing Brown Argus, Grizzled and Dingy Skippers and Small Heath at Beacon Hill. Early Purple Orchid and Duke of Burgundy at Noar Hill and a singing Willow Warbler and my first Swift of the year at Alice Holt Forest
After doing some investigation I found a sight for Pearl-bordered Fritillary literally on my Dad's doorstep so we went for a look and amazingly were rewarded (once we found the right location).
I have found one male alone and then a pair mating.
Despite my car battery having died I eventually managed to get to Dad's where we went out for the day - what a waste of time!
It was cold and and none of the hoped for species materialised.
The only plus side was having scampi and chips for tea and buying and installing a new car battery
A few weeks before Italy was moved into high risk again I managed to get to Abruzzo with Naturetrek.
I was a great holiday despite the various covid restrictions but those didn't detract from my enjoyment.
The hotel was in a lovely location on the outskirts of Pescasseroli surrounded by pines and a nice garden.
I didn't do very well with birds although highlights must be Golden Eagle, Western Bonelli's Warbler, Melodious Warbler, Alpine & Red-billed Chough and Water Pipit, but it was made up by the number of butterflies with quite a few new ones but best of all was 2 Marsican Brown Bears (hence the title of this blog entry).
Another new mammal was Abruzzo Chamois but it took some climbing to see those, and on the last day a large sounder (26 animals) of Wild Boar was seen near the hotel.
I would love to go back to this region in the late spring/summer for orchids and other butterflies.
Here are a selection of photos (there are two Brown Bears - one seen in the morning and one in the evening at GioiaVecchio)
