Thursday February 21

A lovely warm and largely sunny morning as this mild winter fades into an early Spring. You just know there will be a twist though.

I decided to start at the church for a change before heading down to the dry pool along the footpath. About 30 Linnets and 10 Reed Buntings perched in the hedgerow, while at the little gate I could see a couple of Coot on the small top pool.

I don't like discovering dead animals, but I couldn't avoid spotting what must have been a magnificent stag Fallow Deer lying in the ridge field. It may have met its fate overnight because the handful of Magpies which flew from the corpse had hardly started scavenging its carcass.

Fallow Deer corpse

How it met its death is hard to say, but it was 800 metres from the nearest road so I fear that it may have been shot or maybe even attacked by a dog. There are several signs in the area warning people to look out for poachers, and I have heard of overnight illegal hare coursing activity in the area, so there are plenty of unpleasant people who may have been responsible.

Anyway, changing the subject to living creatures, The Flash field contained three Shovelers, nine Teal, nine Lapwings, a Grey Heron, a Lesser Black-backed Gull, and several Coots (the total for the patch creeping up to 11). I didn't have time to look down the south end, but the area I did cover contained at least five Stonechats.

On reaching the road at Netherstead I flushed my first Mistle Thrush here this year.

Mistle Thrush

A little further along I was delighted to see two white butterflies, which on closer inspection proved to be male Brimstones.

Brimstone

So the visit ended on an upbeat springlike note, the temperature according to the car's display reaching 17 degrees.

Lets hope it lasts.